Tourism Management 24 (2003) 719–728
Book reviews
Dynamic tourism
Priscilla Boniface; Channel View Publications,
Clevedon, 2001 188pp. paperback, including references
and index ISBN 1-853150-28-8
This book deliberately sets out to be about what can
only be described as ‘big themes’. Chapter 1 commences
with the statement ‘Dynamic Tourism is about change,
perpetual change over a wide range ofcomponents
and facts. Its power lies in its speed and flexibility
ofresponse, for change is a necessity in tourism’.
Ms. Boniface commences her second paragraph with an
indictment ofthe industry by writing ‘Meanwhile, the
industry’s method ofoperation has remained static,
beached in a style developed in its infancy. The demand
(consumer) side shows a new sophistication that is not
matched by the supply side (industry) side. No major
alteration in approach has yet responded to reflect and
accommodate present-day tourismy’. Towards the end
ofthe book, on page 179 she summarises her thesis thus
‘Dynamic Tourism’s chiefsuggestion is that we do not
see our tourism in its full, balanced image. We see too
much that is obvious, superficial, hackneyed and
materialist, in contrast to witnessing change and seeing
how matters related to nature, vision, imagination and
our own profound being featured as a part of tourism
too’. To which this possibly philistine reviewer can only
say ‘whew’!
In the intervening pages, the reader is treated to what
the author openly admits in her preface is a ‘personal’
journey, and therefore to say that the book struck this
reviewer as being idiosyncratic and at times inconsistent
seems to be a fair statement, for do not many if not
all personal journeys possess these attributes. As is
evidenced by looking at the index where ‘Buddhism’ and
‘Zen Buddhism’ has 13 references, the author has been
much struck by what she perceives as a new spirit ofthe
age. This zeitgeist can be described as caring, nurturing,
seeking for meaning, environmentally conscious, search-
ing for authenticity and, in short, being intellectually
curious and concerned, in Maslow’s terms, about issues
of self-actualisation. So, Boniface writes of tourists in
the following terms ‘y iftourists are to choose what to
do as tourists, in the best interests oftheir own
fulfilment, and also in the best interests of the people
and places they may visit, they will need a dose ofthe
‘intangible’ ofimagination’ (p. 159). The main consti-
tuents ofdynamic tourism are stated as being, on page
156, ‘prevailing spirituality, a taste for more intangibility
to products, individual inclination, imagination and
responsibility pertaining, though in a matrix ofworld-
wide awareness, global consciousness, and efforts
directed toward sustainabilityy’ and so on.
Given this noble motive it seems almost churlish to
criticise. To this reviewer, this seemed the stuff of
Sunday Supplements ofthe broadsheet press. It is not
therefore surprising to find, when looking at the
bibliography used in the preparation ofthis manuscript,
that there is far more attention being paid to the pages
of The Guardian, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday
than there is to Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism
Management, and most certainly as far as this reviewer
could see, the pages ofthe trade press like the TTG in its
various forms in spite of the criticism being made of the
lack of‘lightness’ being made ofthe industry. Yet this
book is published as, it is to be assumed, an academic
book in that it appears under a series designated as such
by Channel View Publications.
Thus, arguably, it is not a book to be disregarded. The
views being expressed are sincerely held and not unique
to the author. They arguably represent the type ofviews
that inform the arguments being promoted by bodies
like Tourism Concern, but ifthey are to be seriously
promulgated, then they need to be assessed. It seems to
this reviewer that there are at least two responses that
can be immediately made. The first is to undertake a
detailed critique ofthe world-view being suggested; that
it does possess inconsistencies and a lack ofclarification.
Ifthe tourism industry is so at fault, why is that the
author can find examples ofthe types oftourism being
desired? Why is it that some ofthe examples being
supported by the author as exemplars ofgood practice
like the Earth Centre have not been notable commercial
successes? The author comments that a problem with
this Centre is its location (p. 122), but surely the types of
tourist being envisaged would willingly travel to such a
location to have their sense of‘individual responsibility
and knowledge for the good of humanity’ (p. 122)
developed. The author comments that bad weather
should not be a reason for visitors not to experience the
natural, so why distance? So, the second response might
be to simply say that this is a new age, misguided book
in that it does not reflect the realities ofmost people’s
patterns oftravel, nor the commercial realities under
which the industry does, in spite ofall ofMs. Boniface’s
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