This book is the result of the desire of the author to provide a set of case studies
from around the world focusing on a growing segment of the tourism industry:
niche tourism. The aim is to offer a theoretical framework underpinned by
contemporary issues and cases written by specialists with an emphasis on linking
niche tourism theory to practice.
Owing to the nature of the case studies, this book is designed for use as reference
for the academic and practitioners’ markets, for undergraduate and graduate
tourism courses.
The number of tourism qualifications, and in particular the growing set of niche
tourism related modules, have exploded in the last decade. This text may be used
for a better understanding of a selection of tourism scenarios, characterised by
issues such as special interest, impacts, planning, marketing, fragile destinations,
ethics and sustainability; identified as common areas of study to the majority of
tourism courses.
In writing and editing this book, the author discovered the existence of great
interest in defining niche tourism as a recognised discipline, based on research on
a variety of niche tourism products, services and markets, by fellow academic
researchers from all over the world. The existence of extensive research being
undertaken in the field of niche tourism was witnessed by the response to the call
for contributions to this book, which attracted an unexpected number of proposed
topics; these were then limited to its actual content