Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism

by Valene L. Smith

Book Overview

Tourism--one of the world's largest industries--has long been appreciated for its economic benefits, but in this volume tourism receives a unique systematic scrutiny as a medium for cultural exchange. Modern developments in technology and industry, together with masterful advertising, have created temporarily leisured people with the desire and the means to travel. They often in turn effect profound cultural change in the places they visit, and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812212800
• ISBN13: 9780812212808
• Release Date: February 1989
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A classic in the Anthropology of Tourism

This book was revolutionary when first published in 1977 and continues to be useful, both theoretically and in terms of data, today. A must-read for anyone interested in the subdiscipline of the anthropology of tourism.

A groundbreaking study

Anthropology really needed this book: after decades of ignoring the interractions between hosts and guests, a book that bridges the gap has become especially necessary. Although written in 1977, and a little theoretically dated, the book provided a sound foundation for more recent (but equally readable and enjoyable) anthropological anthologies of tourism (see, for example, Greg Ringer's "Destinations: cultural landscapes of tourism"). This book details in diverse localities, from Eskimo communities to Polynesia, the complex interractions between traveller and local, between the observers and the observed. A carefully written, edited, and nuanced book.