Essaying tourism: reflections on three decades of international tourism

This introduction reflects on the author's writings on international tourism over the last three decades which are presented as chapters in this book. The author has written on the role tradition has played in tourism development, on the links between tourism and prostitution, and the similarities of the 'new nations' of the 1970s to the 'emerging nations' of the late 1980s. The author has also explored the place of islands in the Western psyche, and tried to develop more coherent approaches to international tourism, considering at the same time that all such efforts are situated within a scientific approach that, rather than being a 'Western' invention, is of universal significance and application.