Why We Love to Tour: Gazing from the Serious Leisure Perspective

By Robert A Stebbins

Why We Love to Tour: Gazing from the Serious Leisure Perspective offers a fresh and nuanced exploration of tourism, distinct from traditional industry-focused narratives. Stebbins delves into tourism as a rich tapestry of leisure activities that provide personal satisfaction and self-fulfilment, framed within the social worlds and lifestyles that accompany these pursuits. This book expands and enriches the gaze, tracing leisure experiences across serious pursuits in art, science, sports, and entertainment; casual leisure in activities like sightseeing and nature exploration; and project-based leisure through unique, one-time adventures such as climbing Mount Fuji, visiting Paris, or swimming with dolphins.

Why We Love to Tour thus complements and extends the understanding of the tourist gaze, making it a valuable resource for academics as a monograph, for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students as supplementary reading, and for professionals within the tourism industry seeking deeper insights into the motivations driving modern tourists.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1836626258
• ISBN13: 9781836626251
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"