Most tourism theories have been developed from the tourists' perspective and focus on the Anglo-American experience. This unique book for researchers and students of tourism is the first to look at the host gaze; how it is constructed, how it has developed, how it varies between countries and how the tourism industry can affect it. By looking at the gazes of both Western and non-Western hosts, this book analyses the consequences such a gaze can have upon the tourist.

This book deals with the issue of how travel and tourism, if developed in a proper form, can contribute to human transformation, growth and development, and change human behaviour and our relationship with the world. The volume investigates the experiences offered by travel and tourism that can change travellers as human beings and their relationships and interactions with natural, socio-cultural, economic, political and technological environments. The book has been published in two volumes. This first volume focuses on the tourist perspective and the tourist self. It consists of 16 chapters covering different types of tourism, including: wellness, retreat, religious and spiritual tourism; extreme sports, backpacking and cultural tourism; WWOOFing and ecotourism; and volunteer and educational tourism. This book is primarily intended for tourism students and tourism programmes in business and non-business schools. However, it could also appeal to students, academics and professionals from disciplines that deal with human development and behavioural changes.

Belief can exist in isolation, but faith requires a relationship Why wade in the shallows of belief when you can plunge into the depths of faith? Belief involves a different way of thinking, but faith brings about a new way of living. It grows through direct experience and a close relationship, both of which come as you follow Jesus. As Christians we often talk about developing a “personal relationship” with Christ, but instead of pursuing a relationship, we pursue knowledge. We are tempted to place confidence in our definite, settled beliefs, which offer a pale substitute for the daily adventure of an honest relationship with Jesus. In What Matters Most, Leonard Sweet presents a challenging and compelling approach to belief that is joined by dynamic engagement with God. You are invited to explore the uncharted regions of faith by following Jesus, completely on his terms. Once you begin, you will never go back to mere belief.

Similarities between “Playboy” Donald Trump and “Holy Man” Martin Luther? Scandalized by such a thought? Through the rediscovery of the Gospel, the great Reformer realized he was the object of God’s love, not His anger and wrath. Both Luther and Trump understood that God’s ways are not always our ways, and that God can choose and work through sinners. Neither twin understood themselves to be saints but were free to be themselves. They are gifted yet flawed human beings driven by optimistic visions of what the Church and State should be. Drawing insights from history, Scripture, and theology, Swartz illustrates numerous similarities in his Twins’ separated by five centuries. The times, events, and circumstances they encountered exhibit uncanny parallelisms: elite establishments, social media, swamps, walls, and plagues. Even more striking is how their “political stance” and personal traits mirror each other: coarse and filthy speech, pugnacious reactions, and use of derisive nicknames. There’s also a resemblance in their spouses as they became the “Maligned Housewives of the Black Cloister and the White House!”

You hunger to live in the presence of God, and you yearn to know the Father’s heart in an intimate way. You desire revelation and passionate encounters with the Almighty, and you long to spend time in The Secret Place, getting to know the Father in a deeper way. This book will lead you into that place of revelation, the place that will satisfy your hunger for more of God. If you long to experience a greater intimacy with the Father, The Secret Place will draw you in and change your life!

“FOLLOW ME.” These two words echo the heart-defining call of our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. Sadly, this life-changing invitation has lost much of its original meaning. Immersed in a society that worships success, we have succumbed to a trendyfixation with leadership. In I Am a Follower, author Leonard Sweet explains how Christians in a twenty-first-century corporate-obsessed culture have shifted away from a Jesus art of following toward a popularized form of leading. Through a colorful mélange of practical applications, imaginative metaphors, and probing biblical exposition based in gospel truth, Sweet reveals that the summons of Jesus and the message of the New Testament point clearly to an emphasis not on imitation but on incarnation, not on leading but on following. Join Sweet on an exciting and intentional journey from leadership cult to followership culture. Discover for yourself the way, the truth, and the abundantlife of following Jesus Christ and what it truly means to “Follow Me”! “At times I felt like I was reading Jeremiah, challenging the shepherds of Israel. This is a much needed and long overdue book.”—BOB ROBERTS, senior pastor, Northwood Church “If there was ever a leader who could convince me that it’s really never been about leading, that would have to be Len Sweet. May we all, like Len, become followers.”—MARK BATTERSON, lead pastor, National Community Church