ABSTRACT
Considering the current trend in tourism academia to be critical of the dominance of neoliberalism and individualistic consumer values which it normally espouses (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006; Tribe, 2008), attention to the issue of materialism, well-being and tourism is timely. Related issues, such as commodifi cation (Wearing, McDonald and Ponting, 2005) and the spread of capitalism through global businesses (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006), have been analysed in the tourism literature. At the time of writing this text, the world is going through a major economic crisis, with some of the most developed world economies facing a long recession (Roubini, 2009). Materialistic behaviours, business greed and self-interest have been largely labelled the key causes of such dire current economic circumstances (Folbre, 2009).
