Encyclopedia of Tourism

This encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and updated source of reference in tourism research and practice. It covers both traditional and emerging concepts and terms and is fully international in its scope. More than 800 contributions of over 200 internationally renowned experts provide a definitive access to the knowledge in the field of tourism, hospitality, recreation and related fields. All actors in this field will find reliable and up to date definitions and explanations of the key terms of tourism in this reference work. Tourism is the largest industry worldwide and is the main source of income for many countries. With both, this practical impact of tourism and a rapidly developing academic field, with a growing number of university courses and degrees in tourism, and a flourishing research, this encyclopedia is the epicenter of this emerging and developing discipline.

Jafar Jafari is Founding Editor, Annals of Tourism Research: A Social Sciences Journal; Chief Editor, Tourism Social Science (book) Series; Co-Chief Editor, Bridging Tourism Theory and Practice book series; Chief Editor, Encyclopedia of Tourism; Co-Founding Editor, Information Technology & Tourism; Co-Founder, TRINET: Tourism Research Information Network; and Founding President, International Academy for the Study of Tourism. A cultural anthropologist (PhD, University of Minnesota, USA) and a hotel administration graduate (BS and MS, Cornell University, USA), with an honorary doctorate from the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain) and the recipient of the 2005 United Nations World Tourism Organization Ulysses Award, he is Visiting Professor of the Universitat do Algarve (Portugal) and Sun Yat-sen University (China), international Program Director of the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain), and faculty member of the University of Wisconsin-Stout Department of Hospitality and Tourism (USA). Honggen Xiao is Assistant Professor at the School of Hotel & Tourism Management in Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Honggen Xiao received his PhD from the University of Waterloo, Canada.