Globalization and Tourism: Mapping the Terrain

Broadly speaking, studies of globalization and tourism fall into two groups. The first, characteristic of economists and others with an economic focus, defines globalization as economic liberalization, notably, the elimination of barriers to international trade and investment. Attention is then directed to how these liberalization processes have affected the tourism industry. Even where the examined impacts extend beyond the narrowly economic, e.g., when equity issues, environmental sustainability, and cultural integrity are taken into account, the basic task is conceived to be tracing out the impacts of economic liberalization and the concomitant expansion of the world economy (e.g., Hjalager 2007; Sugiyarto et al. 2003; Endo 2006; Diamantis and Fayed 2000; World Tourism Organization 2002; Smeral 1998).