Being a Tourist: Finding Meaning in Pleasure Travel

Debbie Feisst is the reference/Internet resources librarian in the
Information Services Division of the Edmonton Public Library.

Julia Harrison is a professor of anthropology at Trent University. At
the onset of her Ph.D. research, she realized that there was not a lot
of information on the reasons people travel for pleasure. She put an ad
in The Globe and Mail and local newsletters requesting participants for
a research study. The 33 largely upper-middle-class respondents took
part in several comprehensive interviews about their past travel
experiences and their future travel plans.

Harrison pursued especially the question of why so many people invest
significant resources—financial, emotional, psychological, and
physical—in travel. Why do people quit stable jobs to endure travel
hardships or cash in their RRSPs to fund their next trek? The interviews
brought forth four primary explanations: to find intimacy and
connection, to express a personal aesthetic, to explore the idea of
“home,” and to make sense of a globalized world.

Painstakingly researched and referenced, this academic study includes
extensive chapter notes, a comprehensive list of works cited, and a
well-prepared index. Most interesting is the inclusion of the
travellers’ biographies, which include personal information about the
participants. The book’s scholarly nature makes it particularly suited
to postsecondary institutions that offer programs in tourism studies.