WHITHER THE ECONOMICS OF TOURISM?

At about the time that the contract for a new edition of this book had been agreed, ten years after it was fi rst published in 1997, and the remaining original author was undertaking a preliminary search of the literature since that date, he was invited to give a keynote paper at the Tourism and Travel Research Institute in Nottingham at its annual conference in December 2007. The suggested focus was to give the impressions gained of the changes in the research of tourism over the period from the preparation of the fi rst edition to the present day. In the event the paper presented consisted more of an examination, with a measure of critical comment, of a limited number of illustrative themes and issues perceived as important in the economic study of tourism, or at least susceptible to analysis by the discipline. However, revisiting the literature on tourism studies, after more than a decade away from it, led to the realization that the subject was not only developing rapidly, but there was quite a sharp dichotomy between the nature of research into it in the wider tourism context in comparison to that having an economic perspective. Nevertheless, there were indications that those working fi rmly within an economic theoretical framework were beginning to question where the discipline stood in relation to other approaches and its relevance to tourism practice. The conclusion was that a much closer look at the nature and tenor of tourism economics research should be undertaken. Thus this chapter attempts to avoid the temptation to simply summarize the content of the previous chapters as a conclusion to the book, to show the contribution economics has made to the study of tourism. Instead it offers a brief exploration of the extent of the progress made in economic research over the last decade or so, its strengths and weaknesses and likely future direction. The chapter is effectively a drawing together of a number of signifi cant strands of developments in the economics of tourism identifi ed and examined throughout the book.