Introduction

Tourism or, more precisely, travel – for it is generally acknowledged that the term ‘tourism’ first appeared in the English language at the end of the eighteenth century – ‘can trace its ancestry back to the Old Testament’; moreover, the roots of contemporary tourism can be found in leisure travel practices from the late seventeenth century onwards. Tourism of a sort also existed in ancient Greece, although it was normally associated with attending religious or sporting festivals or consulting oracles. Traditional issue and themes, such as typologies, the motivation and demand for/consumption of tourism, authenticity, the significance of tourism in contemporary society, the social consequences or impacts of tourism and tourist–host community interaction remain popular. The broadening of the sociological study of tourism into the study of tourist experience or, more precisely, embracing both a sociological and business/management approach to research under the banner of the tourist experience is both beneficial and problematic.