288 PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW

zone, receiving zone, and a zone of interaction and interpretation. The repre-
sentation of this model is not as clearly expressed as it could be, and is some-
what difficult to understand without reading the entire book.
Ryan acknowledges that few will read it from cover to cover, which has re-
sulted in some minor repetition but does not detract from the work. The
index, while only two pages long, is complete enough to satisfy most readers.
However, there is no list of figures or tables, which is disappointing as there
are many figures throughout the book. The chapters are linked well and there
are numerous referrals back to them, which gives the book a feeling of being
‘‘whole’’ and not a collection of totally stand-alone chapters. Both of the chap-
ters on economics are very strong, providing greater depth than the simplistic
approach taken by many non-economics based publications.
This is a strong publication and a good second edition with sufficient updat-
ing and refining to justify its purchase. That Ryan is able to introduce com-
plexity and depth into an introductory publication is testament to his
knowledge and experience in working with students. Above all, he has avoided
the temptation to talk down to his reader. This book is highly recommended
for students at all levels and as a timely discourse for academics and others in-
volved in (or even merely interested in) tourism, particularly those in related
destination management positions.
Sue Beeton: School of Tourism and Hospitality, La Trobe University, Victoria 2086,
Australia, 3086. Email <s.beeton@latrobe.edu.au>

REFERENCES
Butler, R.
1980 The Concept of a Tourism Area Cycle of Evolution: Implications for Man-
agement of Resources Canadian Geographer 24:5–12.
Urry, J.
1990 The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies. Lon-
don: Sage.

Assigned 17 October 2003. Submitted 8 July 2004. Accepted 29 July 2004

doi:10.1016/j.annals.2004.07.001

Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 288–290, 2005

Printed in Great Britain
0160-7383/$30.00

Mapping Tourism
Edited by Vincent J. Del Casino and Stephen P. Hanna. University of
Minnesota Press <www.upress.umn.edu> 2003, xxvii + 219 pp (25
figures and maps, index) $18.95 Pbk. ISBN 0-8166-3956-6

Douglas G. Pearce
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
 PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW 289

Mapping Tourism seems a straightforward title, but this is no simple text on

how to draw maps that depict the flows, distributions, and spatial structures
that many tourism geographers deal in. Rather, this book, written essentially
from the perspective of critical human geography, consists of a series of cri-
tiques of the maps produced for use by tourists: the typical destination map
contained in guide books or given out by the local tourism office. In the words
of the editor: ‘‘this volume is not simply about the lines, points and images
that, at first glance, seem to comprise tourism maps. Rather Mapping Tourism
is about the broader social and spatial contexts in which and of which such ob-
jects are materially produced and consumed as people map tourism spaces
through representational and social practice’’ (p. xxiii).
The introductory chapter sets out some of these broader issues, including a
review of critical cartography and of tourism geographies, but, curiously, no
discussion of how tourism geographers map their subject. The remaining
seven chapters deconstruct the production and content of maps in seven dif-
ferent contexts, some of which are marginal in terms of tourism: Québec in
relation to international politics (Rob Shields); civil rights in Alabama (Owen
Dwyer); construction sites in Berlin (Karen Till); the ghost town of Bodie in
California (Dydia DeLyser); the battlefield site at Culloden (John Gold and
Margaret Gold); tourist and environmental maps of Butte in Montana (May
Curran); and Bangkok’s sex tourism industry (Vincent Del Casino and Ste-
phen Hanna).
That a chapter can be devoted to each is a function of the amount of the-
orization, deconstruction, and inter-textual analysis that the authors bring to
their respective maps. Discussions of representation and selectivity, of who
or what is depicted on the maps (usually features from a very specific period
or dominant viewpoint), of who or what is left off (women, ethnic minorities,
the workers) are supported by long accounts of contested place histories and
identities and by discourses on broader processes such as the politics of inter-
national trade, civil rights, or environmentalism. The theorization is largely in
the field of critical geography. Although reference is made to tourism scholars
such as Urry (1995), MacCannell (1989), other relevant work in the main-
stream tourism literature, such as Leiper’s (1990) work on markers, is ignored.
The editors assert ‘‘maps do not merely make present what is distant in
space and time, they are intertextually linked with the spaces, identities, expe-
riences, and other texts of and about tourism that might not be revealed in a
cursory reading of the map’’(p. 161). While this approach can present some
interesting insights, one can also get the impression that this interpretation
is rather overdone and that the authors are reading too much into the humble
tourism map. After all, do most such maps get much more than a cursory read-
ing from their intended users, tourists? This is an aspect that is essentially ne-
glected other than by Dydia DeLyser who includes some participant
observation in her chapter on Bodie, observing: ‘‘[s]uch tourism maps can be-
come in the hands of their users, flexible texts with multiple uses’’(p. 101).
Nor does there appear to have been any attempt to communicate with the car-
tographers who prepared the maps and the tourism or other agencies for
whom they were produced, in order to examine their intent and purpose.
Without knowing more about the producers and users of the maps, the inter-
pretation resulting from this critical analysis may appear profound at first sight
but does seem a little narrow on further reflection.
Finally, given the subject of the book, it is a pity that the maps that get so
much attention are reproduced with such poor quality; their size, and black
and white reproduction means many are barely legible. The black and white
photos are also often of poor quality and sometimes of marginal relevance.
Neither the maps nor the photos can be readily referred to as they are not
290 PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW

listed in the table of contents. Specialist readers may find the book and its con-
tents a challenging alternative approach to the study of aspects of the geogra-
phy of tourism; those wanting to learn more about how to map tourism will
need to look elsewhere.

Douglas Pearce: Victoria Management School, Victoria University of Welling-

ton, New Zealand. Email <douglas.pearce@vuw.ac.nz>

REFERENCES
Leiper, N.
1990 Tourist Attraction Systems Annals of Tourism Research 17:367–384.
MacCannell, D.
1989 The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Schocken
Books.
Urry, J.
1995 Consuming Places. London: Routledge.

Assigned 26 September 2003. Submitted 19 July 2004. Accepted 29 July 2004

doi:10.1016/j.annals.2004.07.003