This article reviews the changing nature of contemporary tourism and sociological
approaches to its study. We examine the broad social trends and specific historical
events that recently affected tourism and discuss how the focus of sociological inquiry
in tourism studies shifted from earlier discourses of authenticity and the tourist gaze
to three novel theoretical approaches, the mobilities “paradigm”, the performativity
approach and actor-network theory (ANT), which each reflect a broader metatheoretical
re-orientation in contemporary philosophy and sociology. We appraise
these conceptual developments and discuss their limitations. We then identify several
current research issues as important areas for problem-oriented work at the
intersections of tourism and contemporary society: social justice, environmental
sustainability, natural disasters, terrorism, heritage, embodiment and affect, and
mediatization.
Keywords: social trends, authenticity, mobilities, performativity, actor-network
theory, current issues