ABSTRACT
It is the intention of this book to contribute some novel and stimulating ideas to the study of tourism. These fresh ideas derive essentially from the work of positive psychology in the last decade. The area of tourism study of specifi c interest is the happiness and well-being of those undertaking or shaping tourism. The stated aim of making a novel contribution is ambitious, possibly even arrogant. It is necessary therefore to acknowledge immediately the considerable efforts of previous scholars in the fi elds of activity which are of chief concern. These fi elds are broadly but not exclusively the science of psychology and the developing study of the phenomenon of tourism and well-being. As Gould (2004) reveals, contemporary researchers should refl ect seriously on their relationships with previous studies. Too strong a preoccupation with the efforts of previous researchers can cast one into the role of a latter-day gold miner who is left picking over the tailings of a well-worked fi eld for something new to say. Yet again, insuffi cient efforts to note what others have contributed can amount to the reinventing of wheels, surely a rather circular affair.
