Using a host of international examples Butcher examines what the advocates of 'new tourism' see as being wrong with mass tourism, looks critically at the claims made for the new alternatives and makes a case for guilt-free holidays.

Tourism is no longer an innocent pleasure. It has been interpreted and reinterpreted as an activity which is ultimately damaging to receiving cultures and the environment. 'New' forms of tourism, such as ecotourism, alternative tourism, community tourism and ethical tourism, have been presented as morally superior alternatives to the package holiday, yet ironically, even advocates of these new, ethical tourism brands are increasingly subject to criticisms, not dissimilar to those they themselves level against package holidays. Using a host of international examples from the industry, the media and non-governmental organisations, this intriguing book examines what the advocates of 'new tourism' see as being wrong with mass tourism, looks critically at the claims made for the new alternatives and makes a case for guilt-free holidays. The only book on the market to provide a sustained critique of conventional mass tourism’s own critics, Butcher offers a counterpoint to the moral rhetoric steadily turning travellers into guilty tourists.

This first full length treatment of the role of morality in tourism examines how the tourism encounter is also fundamentally a moral encounter. Drawing upon interdisciplinary perspectives, leading and new authors in the field address topics that range from volunteer tourism to fertility tourism to reveal new insights into the ways tourism encounters are implicated in, and contribute to, broader moral reconfigurations in Western and non-Western contexts. Illustrating the role of power and power relations in tourism encounters within different political, economic, environmental and cultural contexts, the authors in this anthology analyse, theoretically and empirically, the implications of the privileging of some moralities at the expense of others. Key themes include the moral consumption of tourism experiences, embodiment in tourism encounters, environmental moralities as well as methodological aspects of morality in tourism research. Crossing disciplinary and chronological boundaries, Moral Encounters in Tourism provides a much-anticipated overview of this new interdisciplinary terrain and offers possible routes for new research on the intersection of morality and tourism studies.

How do we understand human-nature relationships in tourism, or determine the consequences of these relationships to be "good," "bad," "right," "wrong," "fair," or "just"? What theoretical and philosophical perspectives can usefully orient us in the production and consumption of tourism towards living and enacting the "good life" with the more-than-human world? This book addresses such questions by investigating relationships between nature and morality in tourism contexts. Recognizing that morality, much like nature, is embedded in histories and landscapes of power, the book engages with diverse theoretical and philosophical perspectives to critically review, appraise, and advance dialogue on the moral dimensions of natures. Contributing authors explore the very foundations of how we make sense of nature in tourism and leisure contexts—and how we might make sense of it differently. The book will be essential reading for researchers, students, and practitioners grappling with questions about the moral values, frameworks, or practices best suited to mobilizing tourism natures. What will the future of tourism hold in terms of sustainability, justice, resilience, health, and well-being?

Drawing upon a variety of important philosophical traditions, this book develops an original perspective on the relations between ethical, economic and aesthetic values in a tourism context. It considers the ethical/political issues arising in many areas of tourism development, including: the profound cultural and environmental impacts on tourist destinations the reciprocity (or lack of) in host-guest relations the (un)fair distribution of benefits and revenues the moral implications of issues such as sex tourism, staged authenticity and travel to oppressive regimes. The book concludes with a detailed investigation of the potential and pitfalls of ecotourism, sustainable tourism and community-based tourism, as examples of what is sometimes termed 'ethical tourism.' Until now, the ethical issues that surround tourism development have received little academic attention. Explaining philosophical arguments without the use of excessive jargon, this fascinating book interweaves theory and practice, aided by the use of text boxes to explain key terms in ethics, politics, and tourism development, and drawing on contemporary case studies from South Africa, Mexico, Zambia, Honduras, Ethiopia and Madagascar.

Tourism in Cuba - described by Fidel Castro as 'the evil we have to have' - has been regarded both with ambivalence, and as a crucial aspect of development and poverty alleviation. The result is a remarkable approach to tourism, one which often compels tourists to become agents of development through solidarity. Drawing on her experiences of working in an NGO in Cuba, the author uses a multi-sited ethnographic approach to investigate tourism motivations and experiences, and to examine the very nature of development. Her analysis covers a wide range of issues including social change, globalization, social theory, and sustainability. Also discussed is the way in which tourism in Cuba relates to broader debates surrounding transformation, capacity building, social action and solidarity.