Schwab, Keri A.

English

DigitalCommons@CalPoly

ByViexvi978FAMILY TOURISM:MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVESHeike Schanzel, Ian Yeoman, and Elisa Backer. Channelw Publications <www.multilingual-matters.com> 2012,ii + 199 pp. (figures, tables, index), Pbk. £29.95 ISBN:-1-84541-327-9Keri A. SchwabUniversity of Utah, USAFamily Tourism: Multidisciplinary Perspectives provides a concise look at timely andimportant topics related largely to tourism studies, but also brings in ideas and re-search from family leisure, sociology, gender studies, and marketing. Professors,graduate students, and researchers looking to update their knowledge of specificor niche tourism topics, or to better understand the interdisciplinary nature oftheir field, will find this to be a useful text.The main thesis of the book seems to be that ‘‘families’’ are considered a signif-icant segment of the tourism market, yet the notion of ‘‘family’’ can be constructedin a variety of ways, all of which have implications for researchers, marketers, andtourism operators. Chapter authors seek to explore some of the less often investi-gated constructions of family in order to shed light on the little information thetourism sector has on this variety of families, indicate how this knowledge maybe useful to practitioners, and point out gaps in the research, which, when filled,could benefit the industry and families.The book has three editors—one from Australia and two based in NewZealand. The content has a United Kingdom/Australia tone, but the only timethis perspective might hinder readers from other counties is in the way ofdemographics, or country-specific information such as family or tourism-relatedpolicies, laws, or tax structures. Overall, most of the research presented isinternational in scope and the ideas are certainly applicable to an internationalaudience.This text presents a multidisciplinary look at family tourism, covering both avariety of family types and travel and drawing literature from a many fields.The book starts with an introduction to how family members perceive theirfamily time and often idealize family leisure, and then gives a brief historyof family leisure in the United Kingdom. The second section covers severalnon-traditional family groupings and locations, recognizing the diversity offamily types in the modern world. The editors include a chapter that focuseson fathers, one on low-income or disadvantaged families, and another ongay and lesbians families. The book culminates with three chapters that takean unusual approach to conventional topics. Chapter 10 examines the problemof insufficient marketing to teenagers and young tourists, Chapter 11 investi-gates the expanding family life cycle model and the challenges that can createfor tourism marketers and planners, and the final chapter offers a cognitivemapping approach to thinking about the concepts discussed in previouschapters.Overall, each chapter is well-written and easy to read. Most begin with a briefliterature review or history of the topic, and then present a study, includingmethod, results, discussion/conclusion, and implications for tourism providers.This format makes the book useful in an upper division undergraduate classor graduate level class, as faculty would have a launching point for a discussionabout tourism and related literature, research methods, and practical implica-tions. The text might be a bit dry or difficult, however, for undergraduate stu-dents.In each chapter, the authors present brief yet thorough literature reviews—referring to research and ideas authored by many of the ‘‘big names’’ in the familytourism and leisure literature. Wisely, the authors expanded their literature reviewbeyond just family tourism and included a wealth of family leisure research, andrelevant research from sociology, gender studies, marriage and family, and sportstudies. References are often from research published in the 2000s, however someauthors slip a little too far back and base too much of their literature review onwork conducted in the 1990s.The editors should be commended for ensuring that a variety of family typesare covered in the text, and for bringing in literature from a variety of disci-plines, even when little exists. For example, although there is a dearth of re-search on gay and lesbian travel, a chapter is included that introduces thereader to this growing trend in family travel and points out where options forsuch travel and future research may exist. The chapter on social tourism is aninteresting beginning, explaining this newer form of tourism and its benefits.However, the authors do not provide examples of ‘‘social tourism initiatives’’and the reader is left wondering what this might look like in practice. The twofinal chapters—on the expanding family life cycle model and cognitive map-ping—provide new and challenging ways to think about overarching ideas, andwould again be helpful when teaching a course, preparing a study of one’sown, or mentoring a graduate student.Overall, the editors have crafted a book of well-written and sourced, timely, andinteresting chapters on topics not often addressed in the tourism literature, butthat are important issues and trends in the field.Keri Schwab. Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, University of Utah,Salt Lake City, Utah, USA E-mail <http://keri.schwab@hsc.utah.edu>.

Review of Heike Schanzel, Ian Yeoman, and Elisa Backer, \u3cem\u3eFamily Tourism: Multidisciplinary Perspectives\u3c/em\u3e

https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&amp;context=rpta_fac

Review of Heike Schanzel, Ian Yeoman, and Elisa Backer, \u3cem\u3eFamily Tourism: Multidisciplinary Perspectives\u3c/em\u3e

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