Geography of Travel and TourismBooks: Travel: Basque: Item 5
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful: Bed and Breakfast (with Cat's Hairs in the Fried Egg), January 14, 2000 Reviewer:richard t. jackson (Manila, Philippines) - I recently spent New Year's Eve on top of a gale- and rain-swept volcano in the southern Philippines. Compared to that wet, muddy night, this text comes in a distant second. It never ceases to amaze me that almost any truly fascinating subject, when moulded into a textbook, can be made to appear overwhelming tedious. Many geographers (including the present reviewer way back in 1969) have tried to get their heads round what appears to be the obvious relevance of their discipline to the world's biggest industry - tourism; all have failed - at least to make what they have to say about the connection interesting. This, I regret to say, doesn't make a much better job of the task than its predecessors. I suspect that the reason is that geographers, on the whole, have not taken on board the concept of 'relative geography' - a geography in which distance is measured not in kilometres and miles but in dollars. Once that is accepted then it becomes evident that distances vary depending on the disposable income available to one and the map of the world becomes radically transformed generating quite new insights into how humans use space. To be fair to the authors, this book is probably the best available so far - it is far ranging in its coverage; has a good writing style; is well illustrated; and is as up-to-date as any non-electronic publication can be (though that's not saying a great deal). But exactly who will buy it? Tourism students really don't need to - tourism is not at all about geography but marketing and human/personnel skills. And the general reader isn't going to find too much inspiration here - unless they are stuck on top of a galeswept mountain in Mindanao Book Description If you are adventurous in your travel or are interested in knowing more than what is found in travel brochures, this book makes for interesting reading. It gives a basic geographic overview of the world and each major geographic region, providing insights about the geographic character of specific regions to show how it establishes a setting for tourism. All regions or countries have a brief overview of the cultural, physical, and tourism characteristics of the region or country. The cultural characteristics are in the form of cultural capsules pertaining to the people and some tips as to personal actions that are acceptable and others to be avoided. Following the analysis of the geographic character the text discusses the tourist attractions in each of the regions, focusing on the geographic features that are important for creating a desire to visit that region. The authors highlight the most significant attractions, which combine with the geographic facts of the region to form the uniqueness of the area for visitors. In some cases there are differences of opinions concerning which are the major attractions, but those presented in the text provide an overview of the character of each specific tourist destination region. Tourists themselves also create geography. An area with few tourists is different in character from an area with large numbers of visitors. The origin of tourists also affects the environment; as for example visitors from Great Britain create a different environment than those from France because of their differing expectations and resultant services. About The Author Lloyd E. Hudman attends the Association of American Geographers annual meeting in Boston on the 25-29 of March. Richard H. Jackson attends The Association of American Geographers annual meeting in Boston on the 25-29 of March. |
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