Key Concepts in Tourism Research

This book walks students through the selection and application of research methods within tourism. The authors introduce the relevant language and theory of key methodologies and then develop them using strategic literature review and the inclusion of international examples which relate directly to tourism. The historical and philosophical context of each method is then carefully laid out alongside the practical application of the technique. Each concept sets the historical and philosophical context of a method alongside the practical application of the technique.

David Botterill is a freelance academic and higher education consultant, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Tourism at the University of Westminster and Professor Emeritus in the Welsh Centre for Tourism Research, University of Wales Institute Cardiff. He is also an Associate Director for the Higher Education Academy Network for Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism and an Associate of the NHTV University of Applied Sciences Breda.

Over the past 25 years he has secured and directed consultancy projects for: universities; the Higher Education Academy; the tourism industry; European, national and local governments; and NGOs. He has published extensively in the tourism and leisure studies journals and together with Trevor Jones of Cardiff University recently published an edited book on Tourism and Crime: Key Issues for Goodfellow Publishers (2010).

Vincent Platenkamp is Associate Professor at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Understanding at the NHTV University of Applied Sciences Breda, Netherlands. Vincent joined the NHTV in 1988 and has been extensively involved in HRM, TQM and Cross-Cultural Studies projects in the Netherlands, Portugal, Indonesia, Thailand, Hungary, Poland, Cuba, Curacao and Bulgaria. For 20 years he has been strongly involved in the development of international higher education in tourism and in 2005 was awarded a PhD from Wageningen University for his study of the International Classroom of Tourism Studies. Vincent publishes in both philosophy and tourism studies journals in the Dutch, French and English languages.