sociology of tourisM 185
patterns, local and international networks,
Sociology of Tourism
Smith, MacLeod and Robertson (2010, p. 156),
define the sociology of tourism as ‘concerned
with the relations between tourists as types, and
the structuring, function and consequences of
the tourist system in general’. It has been argued
that tourism is simply a reflection of society
and, as such, offers scholars a lens with which
to study it. Sharpley (2018) recommends that to
better understand this phenomenon, one should
utilize the theories associated with sociology.
The research of tourism as a sociological
practice has historically focused on the differ-
ent approaches, concepts, theories and issues
of tourism (e.g., interculturality, perceptions,
socio-cultural impact). This concept encom-
passes four main areas:
• the tourist – an individual’s motivations,
attitudes, reactions and roles;
• the relations and perceptions of tourists
and locals;
• the structure of the tourist system; and
• the socioeconomic and socio-cultural
impact of tourism.
Tourism is a leisure industry that is international
in nature and presupposes culturally specific
practices contrary to regulated and organized
work. Urry and Larsen (2011) state that it is
one manifestation of how work and leisure
are organized as separate entities regulated in
modern societies. Tourism involves a clear dif-
ference between pleasurable experiences and the
everyday routine. However, the definition has
been stretched out from the level of an individual
activity to that of a social phenomenon (Sharma,
2020). From this argument, tourism is embed-
ded within complicated societal transformation
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multicultural, cultural practices, ecology and
environmental concerns, social interests and
interconnected societies that demand new
requirements to satisfy their leisure needs.
Tourism can serve as a visible expression
of globalization that implies the largest flows
of goods, services and people interacting in
a culturally diverse environment. Therefore,
it may be a function of cultural emancipation
and may contribute to an understanding among
people; however, it might also multiply social
differentiation (Jevtovic, 2019). This overall
perspective often leads to social problems in
tourism that need to be studied and analysed.
For example, discrimination, racism, gambling,
sex tourism, gender inequality, crime, religion
and many other social behaviours increase the
scope and interpretations of tourism studies.
This growing sophistication reveals the need
to review both tourism practice and potential
social tourism problems, coordinating with
tourism organizations and academia to enhance,
analyse and expose the reality of tourism glo-
balization social perspectives.
The fundamental constructs relevant to the
sociological study of tourism can draw clar-
ity from the definition of sociology. To better
understand this, look at the term’s Latin and
Greek roots, socius and logos. Socius relates to
friendship or the behaviour of a group of people
interacting (think society), while logos refers to
the scientific study of something (think analy-
sis). The combination of these terms suggests
that sociology denotes a systematic or scientific
analysis of human society and how societies
behave.
An example of applying sociology to tourism
might be the analysis of the sexual behaviour
between tourists and residents at a destination.
Consider sex tourism – one tourist demands a
commercial sexual relationship and then con-
tracts a sexually transmitted disease – this could
be an example of an individual issue. Although,
when it becomes known that as a group, both
tourists and locals are likely to engage in sexual
activities (impacting the incidence of sexually
transmitted infections) and influence the host
destination, the problem becomes a public issue
worth studying from a sociological tourism
perspective.
To better understand how sociology relates
to tourism, one must understand the core prin-
ciples of the sociological perspective. Delaney
and Madigan (2015) discuss three:
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1. Individuals are, by their nature, social
beings. There are two main reasons for
this. First, newborn babies are entirely
dependent on others for their survival.
Second, to survive as a species, humans
have formed groups as a defence mecha-
nism against the other animals as well as
the environment.
2. Individuals do things together in society.
As social beings, neither communities
nor individuals exist in isolation because
as social beings we are products of our
social environments. Through trial and
error, individuals and society reinforce
and model the primary methods of
learning.
3. Social groups are not homogeneous,
and individuals change the social forms
within their social groups. As not eve-
rybody interprets everyday life events
in the same way, our lives are not bio-
logically predetermined; we are capa-
ble (within certain social limitations)
of making decisions to alter our life
courses.
The interpretation of social tourism studies
examines the visitor as a person at leisure who
travels, considers tourism a democratic phe-
nomenon available to everyone, and analyses
the cultural meaning and impact of tourism in
this receptor and sender society. Revealed is the
shifting nature of tourism discourse because of
globalization, increased middle-class tourism,
the rise of technologies, and the emergence of
tourism in different regions. It is based on these
former elements and new sociological tourism
theories that we build a model of sociology of
tourism as shown in the figure.
Cohen and Cohen (2019) pointed out the
sociology of tourism has undergone some
significant changes over the past three to four
decades. Many early studies originated from
continental Europe and focused on impact
of mass tourism. Later, scholars spotlighted
concepts like (in)authenticity in tourism,

IMPACT OF
MASS Early studies
TOURISM

Sociology of
AUTHENTICITY
Tourism PERFORMANCE VISUAL Modern studies
CONSUMPTION
Evolution Model

MOBILITIES
TRANSNATIONAL Contemporary studies
EMBODIMENT

Conceptual approaches:
• Commercialized • Leisure activity
• Democratized • Acculturation
• Cultural themes • Ethnic relations
• Pilgrimage • Neocolonialism

Evolution of sociology of tourism theories

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which encouraged tourists seeking authentic-
ity and real experiences in other ‘times’ and
other ‘places’ away from their everyday life.
As a result of this research, tourist entrepre-
neurs and locals gain a better understanding
of tourists’ expectations, allowing them to
more effectively meet the expectations of
their guests. Furthermore, modern theorists
have described the concept of the tourist gaze,
which concentrates on the visual aspect of tour-
ism consumption. This posit emphasizes the
power of the visual consumption of organized
tourism landscapes. Another recent perspec-
tive conceived tourism as a performance in
which space is organized through spectacles
that include rehearsal and improvisational
practices. The main criticism was that tourism
could no longer be developed as an exotic and
bounded activity. More contemporary studies,
from the early 2020s, posited that tourism has
become a significant modality through which
modern transnational life can be organized.
This perspective saw tourism interwoven with
other mobility types in contrast to the percep-
tion of tourism as a leisure and extraordinary
practice, disentangled from and contrast-
ing everyday life. Finally, theories linked to
embodiment evaluate the concept of attending
to the body’s role in tourism. This may include
sensual encounters, emotionality and affect
in tourism.
One critical aspect of seeing tourism as a
social phenomenon is that the sociology of tour-
ism is an ongoing project. Several sociological
perspectives have been analysed, and there can
be no single sociology of tourism approach. The
general lack of sophisticated sociological treat-
ment leads the different academic efforts in the
social tourism literature to address topics from
heterogeneous perspectives. Furthermore, the
culture of tourism has been constantly evolving
and the development of tourism has been influ-
encing a change in the dynamics of the cultures
in which it exists (Dujmovic and Vitasovic,
2015). Issues like the mutual understanding
between peoples from various countries, the
impact of tourism on the way of life of locals
and visitors, as well as the negative or posi-
tive social repercussions of the inhabitants of
receiving countries and the value they place on
the tourism experience should be analysed from
a more unified sociology of tourism approach to
improve our understanding.
At present, the sociology of tourism is in a
state of flux, searching for an ‘all-embracing
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sociology of tourisM 187
theory of tourism’ (Cohen and Cohen, 2019).
While the application of theory from the disci-
pline of sociology has contributed to our better
understanding of tourism as a concept, it has yet
to make a significant contribution back to the
world of sociology in return. It is perhaps for
this reason that there is no single work in book
format that attempts to comprehensively explore
the sociology of tourism in terms of all its basic
dimensions. The numerous disciplines that
cover tourism (history of tourism, marketing
tourism, the geography of tourism) need a uni-
fied sociological approach. The challenge is that
these approaches need to be established within
a single corpus of the discipline of sociology
of tourism to create a solidly grounded theory
similar to the sociology of education, sociology
of religion, medical sociology and so forth.
Despite the economic and socio-cultural
impacts of tourism, the studies of the phenom-
enon as an academic discipline to fill the gap to
embrace higher analysis levels have been slow
in coming. Regardless of different theoretical
approaches or whether tourism is viewed as a
form of commercial industry, modern pilgrim-
age, or a form of neo-colonialism, tourism’s
social complexity is worthy of systematic and
unified sociological investigation.
The sociology of tourism can be assumed
to be an ongoing process. Therefore, the col-
laboration between tourism organizations and
academia requires a mutual understanding to
guarantee that future tourism studies from the
sociological angle recognize both the multi-
cultural phenomena and the need for economic
satisfaction. The theoretical insights and views
must translate into application, explanation
and analysis with clear benefits for academ-
ics and the tourism industry. Along with other
topics, it must highlight the aspects of mixing
and integrating local and foreign communi-
ties through tourism; building opportunities
for mutual exchange, understanding and
tolerance; promote local heritage, religions
and pride; and translate these concepts for
positive change towards social and tourism
development.
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and saúl serna segura
References
Cohen, S.A. and Cohen, E. (2019), ‘New directions
in the sociology of tourism’, Current Issues in
Tourism, 22, 153–72.
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Delaney, T. and Madigan, T. (2015), The Sociology

of Sports: An Introduction, Jefferson, NC:
McFarland.
Dujmovic, M. and Vitasovic, A. (2015), ‘Postmodern
society and tourism’, Tourism in Southern and
Eastern Europe, 3, 49–62.
Jevtovic, A. (2019), ‘Sociology of tourism in the glo-
balization process and social networks’, Journal of
Economics, Management and Informatics, 10(2),
43–62.
Sharma, R. (2020), ‘Sociology of tourism: shifting
paradigm from nostalgia to happiness’, Journal of
Tourism and Hospitality Education, 10, 90–107.
Sharpley, R. (2018), Tourism, Tourists and Society,
London: Routledge.
Smith, M., Macleod, N. and Robertson, M.H. (2010),
‘Sociology of tourism’, in M. Smith, N. MacLeod
and M.H. Robertson, Key Concepts in Tourist
Studies, London: SAGE, pp. 156–9.
Urry, J. and Larsen, J. (2011), The Tourist Gaze 3.0,
London: SAGE.

patricia Mcgrath

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