TOURISM: CONCEPTS AND PRACTICES

By John Walker and Joselyn Walker. Pearson Education(www.prenhall.com). 2011, xxxviii+537 pages (index, photo-graphs, tables, Internet resources) $103.20 (US). ISBN: 978-0-13-814245-2

Nitin MittalOut of City.com, India

This book bridges the gap between academics and professionals with regards totourism education. Traditionally academic books provide multiple definitions,from various sources, to explain a concept or theory. However Walker and Walkerstick to a few relevant ones explained in simple words. This is particularly apparentin their introductory chapter on defining tourism. The authors’ experience, pri-marily in the hospitality industry, is particularly evident in the many examples theyuse throughout the book.

Walker and Walker cover almost every possible topic in tourism, including trans-portation, accommodation, destination management, policy, and eco-tourism. Un-like many other books, examples and concepts have been specifically explainedfrom a tourism perspective such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs or Epperson’spush–pull model, with illustrations from hospitality industry. The authors also pro-vide case studies that address practical problems.

This book will be of greatest value to students with a few years of professionalexperience because the authors tend to use industry jargon such as ‘‘run of thehouse’’ but without defining the terms. While the book has references from acrossthe globe, it focusses on North America. Each chapter begins with a statement oflearning objectives and concludes with a synopsis and references.

Part 1, ‘‘The Characteristics of Tourism’’ is purely academic in approach anddeals with the topics such as definitions and the history of tourism development.Jafari’s four platforms of tourism perspectives—advocacy, cautionary, adaptancy,and knowledge-based—is also presented. The authors provide a clear distinctionof business travel and leisure travel, reflecting their contrasting requirementsand consumer motivations. Their discussion of American Express is particularlyinteresting.

The authors provide a flavor of tourism marketing when they observe,‘‘[c]hange the word customer to guest, where with better care we can keep themcoming back again and again.’’ The book also covers timely topics such as ‘‘Mar-keting Tourism in a Recession’’. The book also features ‘‘Focus On’’ sections thatoften are beautifully illustrated. For Indian students, this book will evoke strongemotion with a case study on Taj Hotels Resort and Palaces. Part 1 concludes witha chapter on tourism economics with a discussion of demand and supply, elasticityof demand, equilibrium prices, balance of Payments, and Tourism Satellite Ac-counts.

Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 1280–1281, 2012Printed in Great Britain

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Part 2 comprises of chapters with technical contents such as ‘‘Tourism Policyand Organizations’’, ‘‘Tourism Planning and Sustainable Development’’, and‘‘Tourism Research’’ Parts 3 and 4 covers attractions, ranging from amusementparks to fairs, festivals, and events, as well as the meetings, conventions, and expo-sitions sector. A section on the social aspects of tourism covers the evolution of thephenomenon of tourism from 20th to 21st century. Another section explores cul-tural and heritage tourism. Eco-tourism is singled out for particular discussion,with topics such as the ‘‘Ten Commandments for eco-tourism’’, definition ofeco-tourists, and a discussion of geo-tourism. There is also a discussion of the im-pact of carbon footprints in tourism and ways to off-set them.

A chapter on tourism distribution organizations describes the role of intermedi-aries in the travel distribution system such as travel agents, tour operators, whole-salers, and consolidators, with a specific focus on corporate travel management.The Walkers’ grasp of this topic is evident in their detailing of yield management,global distribution systems, and online reservation systems.

Their discussion of transportation explains the nuances of various mode of tra-vel, including air, rail, automobiles, motor coaches, and cruise ships. The discus-sion ranges from the history of their development to revenue streams and eventheir environmental impacts. Even topics like overbooking and bumping are cov-ered, which have always carried an element of mystery—and frustration—for trav-elers.

Accommodation and food services are integral parts of any tourism activity andthese provide the penultimate chapter in this book. The Walkers cover hotel devel-opment as well as ownership models, including franchises and management con-tracts, along with hotel rating systems. The final chapter, ‘‘Tourism in theFuture’’ offers a discussion of trends and factors affecting the tourism sector asa whole. Trends that favor tourism as well as trends that inhibit tourism are cov-ered. The chapter includes a look at technology and virtual tourism, such as tele-conferencing.

The book is voluminous, but with a high-quality production as excellent visualsand color. The charts and pictures are depicted in a neat and legible manner, andadd to the readability of the book. The book has been specifically targeted for USstudents at the college and university level. It is a valuable educational resource asthe authors have hardly left any topic unaddressed. Much of the content has thefeel of story-telling, which holds the interest of reader despite the extensive cover-age of the text. One of the very few improvement opportunities may have been inproviding career counseling, which is treated in a very thin fashion. In sum, thisbook is a pleasure to read, well documented, with rich content.

Nitin Mittal: Chief Operating Officer, Out Of City.com, B104, MS Palazzo, #491,Jakkur Main Road, Yelahanka, Bangalore, Karnataka 560064, India. Email:<nitinmittal72@gmail.com>

Assigned 24 August 2011. Submitted 8 November 2011. Resubmitted 22 November 2011.Accepted 24 November 2011.

doi:10.1016/j.annals.2012.01.013

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