ABSTRACT
Introduction In tourist studies, and the social sciences more broadly, tourism is often treated as an exotic set of specialized consumer products occurring at specific times and places which are designed, regulated or preserved more or less specifically for tourism, such as resorts, attractions and beaches. Much tourism theory, such as the work of MacCannell (1976/1999) and Urry (1990, 2002a), defines tourism by contrasting it to home geographies and ‘everydayness’: tourism is what they are not. It is ‘a no-work, no-care, no-thrift situation’, according to E. Cohen (1979: 181). Or, to cite Suvantola:
Travel can be conceptualized as a move from the mundane everyday routines of the home with its routines and sameness, to experience the excitement of being away from home and experiencing the Other. Travel can be thought of as a dialectic which involves leaving home, being in contact with the Other and then returning home.
