In this article we argue for a greater emphasis on ‘process’ models of tourists’ decision-making, and the consequential changes in ontology and epistemology they imply. An advantage of pursuing this approach is to mesh decision-making research in tourism with the spirit of more dynamic, postmodern accounts of the tourist experience (Uriely, 2005). However, more significantly we believe that this focus will help produce models of tourist decision-making that better suit the increasing concerns of how to manage the tourist experience in process in ways that minimise its adverse impacts, whilst retaining its central features of apparent spontaneity and freedom that many tour- ists value.