Tourism Mobilities Places to Play, Places in Play

Through a fascinating range of case-studies drawn from across the world, this innovative book shows how places to play are also places in play: made and remade by the mobilities and performances of tourists and workers, images and heritage, the latest fashions and the newest diseases. Criss-crossed by various mobilities and performances, places are shown to "move" as they are put into play in relation to other places.
Section One focuses on the performance of paradise in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, in "ecotourism" sites and on beaches across the world. Section Two turns the performance of global heritage from quaint English spa-towns and Viking heritage centers, to the spiritual sublime of Inca ruins and the Taj Mahal, and the international travels of art exhibitions. Section Three concerns the remaking of global cities: Hong Kong, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, and the "high-rise" suburbs of post-millennial Europe. The last section takes an unpredictable tour of round-the-world web-sites, Dubai's Palm Island, and the dark worlds of nuclear tourism and deadly tourism.
Tourism itself is thus in motion, becoming less predictable as changing processes of leisure, authenticity and risk re-shaping global mobilities.

Many places around the world are being produced, converted, interpreted and made fit for tourist consumption. This fascinating book analyzes tourist performances such as walking, shopping, sunbathing, photographing, eating and clubbing, and studies why, and indeed how, some places become global centres whilst others don’t. Arranged in four distinct parts, it considers: * Performing Paradise * Performances of Global Heritage * Remaking Playful Places * New Playful Places Incorporating a wide array of empirical research and innovative international case studies, it illuminates this phenomenon: from Eco-tourism on the beach to shopping in Hong Kong, from the making of 'Cool Reykjavik' to tourism in high-rise suburbs in Paris, and from Inca heritage to medical tourism. Edited by two world authorities in tourism studies, this revealing book deploys a range of theories related to the 'mobility turn' in the social sciences in order to analyze the contingent and networked nature of how places are stabilized as fit for playful performances. Well-written and researched, with coherent analysis and presentation, this book will appeal to academics, students and those interested in the complex character of global change.

1. Places to Play, Places in Play Part 1: Performing Paradise 2. Demobilizing and Remobilizing the Carribean Paradise 3. Islands in the Sun: Cyprus 4. Eco-Tourists on the Beach 5. Shifting the Beach: Surf, sand and bodies Part 2: Performances of Global Heritage 6. Little England's Global Conference Centre 7. Bodies, Spirits and Incas: Performing 8. On the Track of the Vikings 9. Art Exhibitions Travel the World 10. Reconstituting the Taj Mahal: Tourist flows and globalisation Part 3: Remaking Playful Places 11. The Paradox of a Tourist Centre: Hong Kong as a site of play and a place of fear 12. Barcelona's Games: The Olympics, urban design and global tourism 13. Tourists in the Concrete Desert 14. Favela Tours: Indistinct and mapless representations of the real in Rio de Janeiro Part 4: New Playful Places 15. Playing On-line and Between the Lines: Round-the-world websites as virtual places to play 16. 'Let's build a palm island!': Playfulness in complex times 17. Atomica World: The place of nuclear tourism 18. Death in Venice