Tourism and theories of practice

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book demonstrates how practice theories can be used in empirical analyses of a wide range of tourism related phenomena, from the everyday micro-practices of individual tourists, to the governance of destination development and processes of tourism-related socio-technological innovation. It illuminates the conceptual and methodological opportunities and challenges that practice theories present to researchers of tourism. The book discusses the implications of tourism studies into four themes: the temporal dynamics of tourism practices; networks of tourism practices; practices of learning and innovation in tourism; and the materiality of tourism practices. It reflects on the contribution that studies of tourism might make to the development of practice-based approaches, and suggests areas in which further work needs to be done. The book demonstrates the value of practice theory for understanding tourism as a phenomenon and indicated new avenues for research taking a practice-based approach.