German Perspectives on Tourism Geography

Abstract

This chapter aims to familiarize the reader with some of the important aspects of tourism geography in the German-speaking countries. It starts with a primarily historical-genetic perspective on tourism development and the theoretical traditions associated with them. The second section describes the structure of the discipline, with a focus on the institutionalization of the field in the universities including their research specialization. The chapter maintains that tourism geography plays a marginal role compared with other subdisciplines of geography, though this is reflected primarily in its institutionalization and less so in the research undertaken. The last section deals with the current challenges and future prospects in German-speaking geographies of tourism from a problem-centered perspective.

Citation

Scherle, N. and Hopfinger, H. (2013), "German Perspectives on Tourism Geography", Geographies of Tourism (Tourism Social Science Series, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 69-89. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1571-5043(2013)0000019005