An Introduction to Sociology of Tourism

Tourism is an economic phenomenon with important sociocultural implications that acquired a fundamental significance in the last decades of the twentieth century. Sociology is about people and how we live together in social groups. Its subject matter ranges from the study of close interpersonal interactions to transformations in global economic, political and social systems. Most importantly, sociology helps us to grasp the crucial connections between the interpersonal and the global levels. By engaging with sociological theory, social research methods and social policy we are better able to grasp how technological developments and changing values affect our tourism development as a society. Travel has always been central to human history, but mass tourism and the leisure industry is a more recent development. The rapid growth of tourism has been a mixed bag; while it has been an economic boom and encouraged certain types of cultural preservation, it has also brought negative effects, promoting dependency, environmental degradation, and commodification of cultures. This paper will explore tourism not only as an important human activity and industry, but also as a means .to understand of the complex relationship between sociology and tourism. It examines globalisation, global culture and the development of global tourism from a sociological point of view. (Abstract is written by Zargham, Ph.D.