ABSTRACT
The choice in the chapter title of Camber Sands and Waikiki as tourism places that are illustrative of the globalisation of tourism was inspired by a line from a 1980’s pop song by the British band Squeeze.1 In the short span of just three verses, the song presents a set of images that, although fleeting in nature, capture a vivid picture of a popular form of tourism – of lazy sunbathing and the casual perusal of ‘airport’ novels; the flanerie of the seafront and harbour; shopping for cheap souvenirs and gifts for family or friends at home; and for some, perhaps, a holiday romance. Camber Sands lies on the English Channel coast of Sussex, Waikiki on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, yet as the song correctly recognises, the essence of tourism within these very different and distant locales is essentially the same.
