This volume seeks to expose and illustrate new approaches and thinking in qualitative methods that are being developed and implemented in tourism research. The contributions bring together various qualitative methods and approaches while also providing suggestions for the juxtaposition of qualitative and quantitative methods in mixed methods research. The book has been written with a cross-disciplinary approach which provides an insight into the art of research development from business, sociology and tourism perspectives. The chapters provide readers with a context and practical application examples for each method. They present a distinctive opportunity for social researchers from a range of disciplines, in particular tourism, to examine how to adapt the wide variety of qualitative approaches to their particular research needs.

The first to focus solely upon qualitative research in tourism, this book combines discussions of the philosophies underpinning qualitative research, with reflexive chapters that demonstrate how these techniques can be used. Incorporating a range of case studies written by leading international scholars, this book makes clear the ways in which these pieces of research have been informed by the authors' epistemological, ontological and methodological standpoint. Based on a range of empirical tourism studies set in the context of theoretical discussion, it demonstrates the benefits of using a range of qualitative approaches to research tourism, exploring the ways in which a number of techniques, including participants observation, memory work, biographical diaries, focus groups and visual exercises, have been adopted by researchers from a range of disciplinary backgrounds to undertake empirical research in tourism. An indispensable text for final year undergraduates, Masters and PhD students embarking on research in the field, it also will be a valuable title for academics with an interest in either tourism research or qualitative methodology. Linking theory with research practice, it offers a holistic account of qualitative research in tourism.

This book explores the ontologies, epistemologies, methodologies, and methods that inform tourism qualitative research conducted either by Asian scholars or non-Asian scholars focusing on Asia. In addition to providing a platform for researchers to publish their qualitative journeys, it aims to encourage further Asian qualitative tourism research production. The book not only includes chapters from Asian scholars but also non-Asian tourism researchers with a focus on Asia, as their chapters are crucial to represent the multiplicity of realities constituting ‘Asia’. It is of interest to the whole tourism academic community as it provides novel methodological insights from a non-Western perspective, which at the moment are often silenced by dominant (Western) voices.

Within the tourism industry there is a growing consensus on the need for research to investigate the economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism. However, existing research methods texts are based solely on either the business approach or the social science approach to tourism. They often fail to provide real world examples of how to plan, implement or analyse tourism related research. This book aims to address this divide by integrating theory with practice through the inclusion of specific tourism research case studies alongside research theory. It considers a wide range of research issues, approaches and techniques with contributions from both experienced and new researchers.

Disruptive and creative research methodologies proposed in this book are designed to dismantle neoliberal narratives deployed in tourism studies and wider social sciences. Progressing criticality in tourism studies, this volume showcases cutting-edge contributions ranging from reflexivity, subjectivities, and dreams; to messy emotions in auto-ethnographic accounts of fieldwork; ‘motherhood capital’ accessing Inuit communities; collective memory work; ethnodrama and creative non-fiction, amongst others. Disruption and creativity are the two ideas around which tourism geographers challenge and begin dismantling hegemonic ideologies in tourism studies. The chapters in this book provide a vantage point from where to disrupt first, before tourism geographers can engender progress and transformation within and outside of the field. In tourism studies in general, and tourism geography in particular, the years of the 2000s have witnessed an emphasis on qualitative methodological research, both in terms of the topics addressed and the types of methodological tools. In many ways, this legitimisation of qualitative work mirrors developments in other areas such as human geography, sociology and anthropology, in which this book is anchored. The authors debate in more depth how tourism studies offer multidimensional, multilogical and multi-emotional approaches to research design. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Tourism Geographies.

'This is an excellent book which significantly contributes to tourism research and education. It takes a rigorous yet readable style to address twenty five of the most pertinent quantitative and qualitative techniques applied in tourism research. the book will appeal to a wider readership of social scientists as well as to scholars of tourism as each chapter provides a thorough overview and explanation of the techniques irrespective of their tourism application.' – Dimitrios Buhalis, Bournemouth University, UK This insightful book explores the most important established and emerging qualitative and quantitative research methods in tourism. the authors provide a detailed overview of the nature of the research method, its use in tourism, the advantages and limitations, and future directions for research. Each chapter is structured to provide information on: the nature of the technique and its evolution; background and types of problems that the technique is designed to handle; applications of the technique to tourism, including discussion of studies that have used the technique and their findings; advantages and limitations of the technique conceptually and for policy formulation; and further developments and applications of the technique in tourism research. Handbook of Research Methods in Tourism will appeal to social scientists, students as well as researchers in tourism who use quantitative and qualitative research techniques.

The final section explains market analysis planning and communications, including preparing a research-based business review and the effective presentation of research findings.