Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 101598

Coordinator Felicity Picken Opens in new window

Description In 2023 this subject replaced by TOUR 2004 - Tourism and Festivals in Society. In this subject students approach tourism as a cultural and social phenomenon and tourism industries, tourist behaviour, the tourist experience and tourism impacts are examined through a socio-cultural lens. Considering tourism as an agent of social change, the subject explores the interplay between tourism, mobility and globalisation, tourism and development, and tourism and world events. The subject will also unpack some of the common motivations for leisure travel, explore the role of tourism in everyday life, and examine the interconnections between the media, consumer culture, visual culture and the tourist experience.

School Social Sciences

Discipline Sociology

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 2 subject

Equivalent Subjects HUMN 1046 - Tourism in Society (UWSC) LGYA 1264 - Tourism in Contemporary Society LGYB 8188 - Tourism Issues and Change

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Summarize the various theoretical platforms used in a socio-cultural study of tourism (eg theories of authenticity, modernity/post-modernity, globalisation, identity etc.)
2. Describe the relationships between tourism and the content areas under study (eg commodity culture, visual culture, media culture etc.)
3. Apply theoretical understandings to contemporary tourism issues
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the key concepts taught in this unit

Subject Content

Tourism and contemporary society: an introduction
Desire, the ?edream of difference?f and journeying to ?eotherness?f
Tourism and the question of authenticity
Tourist attractions as a socio-cultural process
Tourism and visual culture: the tourist gaze
Commodification, commodity culture and tourism
Media cultures and tourism (Print, TV, Film, Digital)
Tourism and developing countries ? selected case-studies
Diaspora, multi-culturalism, postcoloniality and tourism
Tourism and international politics (e.g. natural and human disasters, war, terrorism, diseases and climate change)