- Email: [email protected]
Tourism in Western Europe—a collection of case histories
Book Reviews / Tourism Management 24 (2003) 111–118
helped to develop this understanding, rather than chart current performance and activities. For example, Chapter Six on the provision of commercial facilities is competent enough. Anyone reading the chapter will gain an appreciation of the different types of commercial contract and the tender process. What is lacking, however, is an assessment of the way in which commercial facilities are likely to develop in the future. While the chapter provides a number of useful examples and some interesting vignettes, what remains absent is an understanding of how commercial tensions within an airport environment are likely to configure future outcomes. In part there-
113
fore, the dynamics of aeronautical and commercial development that characterise airports are lost. As I noted at the beginning of this review, the book has a lot to commend it and is the outcome of a considerable amount of hard work. I hope however that any future editions will reflect a greater balance between description and analysis. Paul Freathy Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA Stirling, Scotland, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 5 1 7 7 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 4 0 - 7
Tourism in Western Europe—a collection of case histories Richard Voase (Ed.); CABI Publishing, Wallingford, 2002, pp. 263, ISBN 0851995721 Tourism in Western Europe brings together contributions relating to England, Wales, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Finland and Sweden. According to the editor, each contributor bases their chapter on a locality where they have ‘‘connections’’. The organising structure of the book revolves around a PEST (political, economic, social and technological environments) analysis, although Voase recognises that chapters do not neatly fit just one category, together with how the concepts of liminality, myth and discourse relate to the chapters. Kevin Meethan’s chapter on tourism marketing in Devon and Cornwall, the first chapter in the Political context, provides a good overview of the salient issues and builds on his previous work (Meethan, 1998). For example, he elaborates on why data gathering, in the two counties, is ‘‘as traditional yas the ‘bucket and spade’ holiday’’ (p. 33), more suited to the ‘old’ mass tourism than the fragmented features of ‘new’ tourism where lifestyle factors are more pertinent in determining holiday preferences than socio-economic categorisation. He discusses the micro-level politics between the regional tourist board, formerly the West Country Tourist Board, and other interests, largely because the Board was perceived as being ‘‘remote and out of touch’’ (p. 28). After all, it was—and still is—trying to promote counties as diverse as Cornwall and Wiltshire. Is the West Country a ‘‘nebulous geographical entity’’ (p. 28)? Trezise (2000) has argued that, in many respects, the West Country is only a literary invention. One of Meethan’s local authority informants remarks that ‘‘the
West Country exists on the back of Cornwall and Devon’’ (p. 27) and, indeed, the DACOM—Devon and Cornwall Overseas Marketing—consortium was formed in 1995 as a response to frustrations with the regional board. Herein lies the difficulty: Cornwall is distinct from Devon, let alone Wiltshire, and raises the question as to the influence of external funding. European Regional Development Fund money was said to be more important in the establishment of DACOM than frustration. Meethan argues, cogently, that niche marketing—or ‘new’ tourism—offers possibilities of extending the traditional holiday season and achieving a more even spatial distribution. Various area brochures are reviewed for their content and implied target markets: the Falmouth guide presents ‘‘a picture of ‘dinkies’ on mountain bikes silhouetted against a setting sun, and ‘empty nesters’ contemplating nature’’ (p. 38). One of the DACOM brochure sections emphasises A Land of Culture, perhaps incongruously combining the Tate Gallery at St. Ives with Agatha Christie, Rosamunde Pilcher and Daphne du Maurier. Quite appropriately, Cornwall is not singled out as possessing the only literary tourism assets of the two counties, although arguably Restormel Borough Council has made more of its Daphne du Maurier links (Busby & Hambly, 2000) than Torbay has of its Agatha Christie connections, resulting in a shoulder season international festival. Morpeth’s chapter considers leisure and tourism as political instruments in 1980s Britain, with particular reference to Middlesbrough. The first ten pages provide a comprehensive literature review of public policy as concerns leisure and tourism in England; however, perhaps, more than one sentence should be accorded to Tourism Development Action Programmes, given the number that were located in decaying urban areas. For a
114
Book Reviews / Tourism Management 24 (2003) 111–118
discussion of TDAPs and the successor, Local Area Tourism Initiatives (LATI), with regard to entrepreneurial planning, see Davidson & Maitland (1997, pp. 176–179). With Middlesbrough, the ‘‘national trend to mythologize destinations’’ (p. 53) was continued: the town has been marketed as the ‘Gateway to Captain Cook Country’ and, in this lies the ‘‘logic of deflecting tourist activity away from Middlesbrough towards associated regions’’ after visiting the Captain Cook museum. However, drawing on the experience of a local authority officer with the Borough Council, Morpeth observes that leisure has been transformed from ‘‘a Cinderella activity secondary to other service functions to a policy area which now underpins many service areas’’ (p. 55). The influence of political, economic and social change in the resorts of Broadstairs, Margate and Ramsgate is discussed in Chapter 3 by Richard Voase, drawing on his substantial experience as a former local authority officer in the area. The historic ‘social tone’ afforded by each of the resorts is assessed and, as Voase remarks, it is ‘‘of little, yet lingering, importance’’ (p. 67). On a comparative basis, the same can be said of the south Devon resorts (Morgan & Pritchard, 1999). Quite validly, it seems, Voase views tourism development in the Isle of Thanet through the concept of interpellation, whereby the entrepreneurial acts of the ‘‘uncredentialled small man’’ are ‘‘a defining feature of the area’’ (p. 80), comparable with Cornwall (Shaw & Williams, 1994). Robledo and Batle’s chapter on revitalizing the tourism industry in Mallorca provides a useful Mediterranean example to set against Voase’s preceding chapter. The interesting acronym of POOT, the Pla de Ordenacio! de l’Oferta Tur!ıstica, or Tourism Supply-Side Regulation Plan, dating from 1995, is thoroughly reviewed. Robledo and Batle observe that various interest groups have, not surprisingly, defended their positions; in his Introduction, Voase remarks on the need to study conflicting interests when ‘‘an analysis of the politics of a mature destination is to be attempted’’ (p. 4). Part 2, the Economic Context, comprises three chapters. Alison Lewis addresses agricultural change in Wales, whereby the shift from ‘old’ farming to ‘new’ could be argued to parallel the shift from ‘old’ to ‘new’ tourism and, as with the creation of DACOM, encouraged by the supra-national involvement of the European Union. Lindroth and Soisalon-Soininen present their case history of tourism development in Loviisa, Finland, in the form of a storyteller’s narrative—and it must be stated that this alternative approach reads well. Again, European Union funding was of significance in the provision of training and other . assistance. In their narrative of Alvdalen in rural . Sweden, Bohn and Elbe emphasise the importance of
one individual entrepreneur in the development of tourism over more than three decades. Their concluding section explains why the local authority made changes after so many successful years and identifies the importance of individuals in relationship marketing. . ‘‘In Alvdalen, the tourism manager was the man who held together all the relationships, and when he was no longer around all the resources to which he had gained access through his different contacts also disappeared’’ (p. 165). Four case histories comprise Part 3, The Sociocultural Context, and review topics as diverse as the McDonaldization of football to the influence of The Sound of Music. However, there are, as Voase insists, consistent underlying themes in these chapters. Football as a destination attribute is an interesting suggestion; Mick Finn’s analysis of the commodification of soccer is certainly engaging. As he observes, commercialisation of the sport is not new, commodification is, and it is now simply one of many leisure pastimes for consumers to choose from. In Chapter 9, Nacima Baron-Yelles discusses the French concept of Grand Site and La Pointe du Raz, Brittany, in particular. There appear to be many parallels with Land’s End, Cornwall; not just in terms of visitor numbers and ecological impacts but with respect to the symbolism and imagery of the site as well (Ireland, 1999). In their review of demand for cultural tourism, in Chapter 10, Lohmann and Mundt point to the rising stock of educational capital as being a key determinant; from approximately 700,000 German employees with an academic background in 1960, to 5 million today. Concomitant with this growth, the concept of culture has ‘‘become rather unspecific over the years, as almost everything these days is deemed to be ‘culture’’’ (p. 215). In other words, many activities undertaken on holiday can be deemed to be cultural in one sense or another; take for example, participating in the regional cuisine (Hjalager & Corigliano, 2000). Tourism development in the Salzburg region is discussed by East and Luger in Chapter 11. They suggest the imagery of the area has been influenced by the 122 Heimatfilme produced by 1965—these are defined as ‘‘sentimental films in idealized regional settings’’ (p. 229). With release of the Hollywood musical The Sound of Music, the area received the most effective form of promotion possible and, allegedly, three-quarters of tourists give the film as their main reason for visiting today. The Salzburgerland is not unique in this. Saving Private Ryan, The Bridges of Madison County, and Braveheart are just three examples that have stimulated film-induced tourism in their respective locales (Busby & Klug, 2001). However, for the Austrian youth, the imagery of the area constrains them to what Voase terms ‘‘the pre-modern representations to which their locality must, for economic reasons, conform’’ (p. 170).
Book Reviews / Tourism Management 24 (2003) 111–118
In his concluding chapter, Voase manages to pull together the many diverse elements of the preceding chapters, emphasising the extent to which many practices demonstrate the shift from ‘old’ to ‘new’ tourism. Three further influences are discussed in this chapter, namely demographic change, climatic change and the ‘smart’ consumer. Demographic change may well accelerate some tourism patterns and climate change may well lead to diversification policies in some resorts. With the smart consumer, Voase argues that ‘‘apparently active and adventurous ‘new’ tourists’’ can, at the same time, be ‘‘passive consumers’’ (p. 251). This book represents another worthwhile addition to the growing body of tourism literature.
115
Davidson, R., & Maitland, R. (1997). Tourism destinations. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Hjalager, A.-M., & Corigliano, M. A. (2000). Food for tourists— determinants of an image. International Journal of Tourism Research, 2, 281–293. Ireland, M. (1999). Cornishness, conflict and tourism development. In M. Robinson, & P. Boniface (Eds.), Tourism and cultural conflicts (pp. 205–227). Wallingford: CAB International. Meethan, K. (1998). New tourism for old? Policy developments in Cornwall and Devon. Tourism Management, 19(6), 583–595. Morgan, N., & Pritchard, A. (1999). Power and politics at the seaside—the development of Devon’s resorts in the twentieth century. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Shaw, G., & Williams, A. M. (1994). Critical issues in tourism: A geographical perspective. Oxford: Blackwell. Trezise, S. (2000). The West Country as a literary invention—putting fiction in its place. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.
References Busby, G., & Hambly, Z. (2000). Literary tourism and the Daphne du Maurier festival. In P. Payton (Ed.), Cornish Studies 8 (pp. 197–212). Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Busby, G., & Klug, J. (2001). Movie-induced tourism: The challenge of measurement and other issues. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7(4), 316–332.
Graham D. Busby Department of Land Use & Rural Management, Seale-Hayne Faculty, University of Plymouth, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6NQ, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 5 1 7 7 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 4 1 - 9
Service quality management in hospitality, tourism and leisure Jay Kandampully, Connie Mok and Beverley Sparks (Eds.), The Haworth Press, Binghamton, NY, 2001, ISBN 0-7890-1141-7 As the promotional blurb on the back cover of the book states, ‘‘‘Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure’’ highlights concepts and strategies that will improve the delivery of services, and provides clear and simple explanations of theoretical concepts and their practical applications’. It certainly achieves this, giving a concise introduction to the theoretical and practical implications of service quality in the tourism and leisure context. Aimed at both managers and students, this book reinforces the importance of understanding customers and what they value, the processes involved in delivering service through employees and the measurement of service quality. Each chapter describes these processes, relating them to the tourism industry to aid understanding of the theoretical concepts. With service quality a critical management issue for tourism, and with the increasing numbers of papers being published on the topic, many of which highlight original research, the potential scope
for this book is tremendous. It is disappointing, then, that what the editors have achieved is a service quality text book which has merely been adapted to include tourism examples. Its potential has been missed, and what is left is a comprehensive review of service quality which ultimately is deeply unsatisfying for a tourism readership. Despite the inclusion of a number of authors of differing backgrounds giving the book international appeal, there is a singular lack of original research: one chapter out of 17 to be precise. A quick scan of any tourism or leisure journal would suggest a wealth of research being undertaken into service quality in tourism and leisure. Each contributor has offered a useful summary of the service quality literature, but what most have failed to do is add any value. It is unclear, then, why this is offered as an editorial volume as opposed to an authored text. An authored text would have been much more appropriate for the introductory focus of the chapters, and would perhaps have helped to create more obvious links between chapters. The amalgamation of a number of the 17 chapters to create distinct topic areas would have helped to avoid the considerable repetition throughout. Moreover, the editing process itself appears sloppy. There are glaring
helped to develop this understanding, rather than chart current performance and activities. For example, Chapter Six on the provision of commercial facilities is competent enough. Anyone reading the chapter will gain an appreciation of the different types of commercial contract and the tender process. What is lacking, however, is an assessment of the way in which commercial facilities are likely to develop in the future. While the chapter provides a number of useful examples and some interesting vignettes, what remains absent is an understanding of how commercial tensions within an airport environment are likely to configure future outcomes. In part there-
113
fore, the dynamics of aeronautical and commercial development that characterise airports are lost. As I noted at the beginning of this review, the book has a lot to commend it and is the outcome of a considerable amount of hard work. I hope however that any future editions will reflect a greater balance between description and analysis. Paul Freathy Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA Stirling, Scotland, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 5 1 7 7 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 4 0 - 7
Tourism in Western Europe—a collection of case histories Richard Voase (Ed.); CABI Publishing, Wallingford, 2002, pp. 263, ISBN 0851995721 Tourism in Western Europe brings together contributions relating to England, Wales, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Finland and Sweden. According to the editor, each contributor bases their chapter on a locality where they have ‘‘connections’’. The organising structure of the book revolves around a PEST (political, economic, social and technological environments) analysis, although Voase recognises that chapters do not neatly fit just one category, together with how the concepts of liminality, myth and discourse relate to the chapters. Kevin Meethan’s chapter on tourism marketing in Devon and Cornwall, the first chapter in the Political context, provides a good overview of the salient issues and builds on his previous work (Meethan, 1998). For example, he elaborates on why data gathering, in the two counties, is ‘‘as traditional yas the ‘bucket and spade’ holiday’’ (p. 33), more suited to the ‘old’ mass tourism than the fragmented features of ‘new’ tourism where lifestyle factors are more pertinent in determining holiday preferences than socio-economic categorisation. He discusses the micro-level politics between the regional tourist board, formerly the West Country Tourist Board, and other interests, largely because the Board was perceived as being ‘‘remote and out of touch’’ (p. 28). After all, it was—and still is—trying to promote counties as diverse as Cornwall and Wiltshire. Is the West Country a ‘‘nebulous geographical entity’’ (p. 28)? Trezise (2000) has argued that, in many respects, the West Country is only a literary invention. One of Meethan’s local authority informants remarks that ‘‘the
West Country exists on the back of Cornwall and Devon’’ (p. 27) and, indeed, the DACOM—Devon and Cornwall Overseas Marketing—consortium was formed in 1995 as a response to frustrations with the regional board. Herein lies the difficulty: Cornwall is distinct from Devon, let alone Wiltshire, and raises the question as to the influence of external funding. European Regional Development Fund money was said to be more important in the establishment of DACOM than frustration. Meethan argues, cogently, that niche marketing—or ‘new’ tourism—offers possibilities of extending the traditional holiday season and achieving a more even spatial distribution. Various area brochures are reviewed for their content and implied target markets: the Falmouth guide presents ‘‘a picture of ‘dinkies’ on mountain bikes silhouetted against a setting sun, and ‘empty nesters’ contemplating nature’’ (p. 38). One of the DACOM brochure sections emphasises A Land of Culture, perhaps incongruously combining the Tate Gallery at St. Ives with Agatha Christie, Rosamunde Pilcher and Daphne du Maurier. Quite appropriately, Cornwall is not singled out as possessing the only literary tourism assets of the two counties, although arguably Restormel Borough Council has made more of its Daphne du Maurier links (Busby & Hambly, 2000) than Torbay has of its Agatha Christie connections, resulting in a shoulder season international festival. Morpeth’s chapter considers leisure and tourism as political instruments in 1980s Britain, with particular reference to Middlesbrough. The first ten pages provide a comprehensive literature review of public policy as concerns leisure and tourism in England; however, perhaps, more than one sentence should be accorded to Tourism Development Action Programmes, given the number that were located in decaying urban areas. For a
114
Book Reviews / Tourism Management 24 (2003) 111–118
discussion of TDAPs and the successor, Local Area Tourism Initiatives (LATI), with regard to entrepreneurial planning, see Davidson & Maitland (1997, pp. 176–179). With Middlesbrough, the ‘‘national trend to mythologize destinations’’ (p. 53) was continued: the town has been marketed as the ‘Gateway to Captain Cook Country’ and, in this lies the ‘‘logic of deflecting tourist activity away from Middlesbrough towards associated regions’’ after visiting the Captain Cook museum. However, drawing on the experience of a local authority officer with the Borough Council, Morpeth observes that leisure has been transformed from ‘‘a Cinderella activity secondary to other service functions to a policy area which now underpins many service areas’’ (p. 55). The influence of political, economic and social change in the resorts of Broadstairs, Margate and Ramsgate is discussed in Chapter 3 by Richard Voase, drawing on his substantial experience as a former local authority officer in the area. The historic ‘social tone’ afforded by each of the resorts is assessed and, as Voase remarks, it is ‘‘of little, yet lingering, importance’’ (p. 67). On a comparative basis, the same can be said of the south Devon resorts (Morgan & Pritchard, 1999). Quite validly, it seems, Voase views tourism development in the Isle of Thanet through the concept of interpellation, whereby the entrepreneurial acts of the ‘‘uncredentialled small man’’ are ‘‘a defining feature of the area’’ (p. 80), comparable with Cornwall (Shaw & Williams, 1994). Robledo and Batle’s chapter on revitalizing the tourism industry in Mallorca provides a useful Mediterranean example to set against Voase’s preceding chapter. The interesting acronym of POOT, the Pla de Ordenacio! de l’Oferta Tur!ıstica, or Tourism Supply-Side Regulation Plan, dating from 1995, is thoroughly reviewed. Robledo and Batle observe that various interest groups have, not surprisingly, defended their positions; in his Introduction, Voase remarks on the need to study conflicting interests when ‘‘an analysis of the politics of a mature destination is to be attempted’’ (p. 4). Part 2, the Economic Context, comprises three chapters. Alison Lewis addresses agricultural change in Wales, whereby the shift from ‘old’ farming to ‘new’ could be argued to parallel the shift from ‘old’ to ‘new’ tourism and, as with the creation of DACOM, encouraged by the supra-national involvement of the European Union. Lindroth and Soisalon-Soininen present their case history of tourism development in Loviisa, Finland, in the form of a storyteller’s narrative—and it must be stated that this alternative approach reads well. Again, European Union funding was of significance in the provision of training and other . assistance. In their narrative of Alvdalen in rural . Sweden, Bohn and Elbe emphasise the importance of
one individual entrepreneur in the development of tourism over more than three decades. Their concluding section explains why the local authority made changes after so many successful years and identifies the importance of individuals in relationship marketing. . ‘‘In Alvdalen, the tourism manager was the man who held together all the relationships, and when he was no longer around all the resources to which he had gained access through his different contacts also disappeared’’ (p. 165). Four case histories comprise Part 3, The Sociocultural Context, and review topics as diverse as the McDonaldization of football to the influence of The Sound of Music. However, there are, as Voase insists, consistent underlying themes in these chapters. Football as a destination attribute is an interesting suggestion; Mick Finn’s analysis of the commodification of soccer is certainly engaging. As he observes, commercialisation of the sport is not new, commodification is, and it is now simply one of many leisure pastimes for consumers to choose from. In Chapter 9, Nacima Baron-Yelles discusses the French concept of Grand Site and La Pointe du Raz, Brittany, in particular. There appear to be many parallels with Land’s End, Cornwall; not just in terms of visitor numbers and ecological impacts but with respect to the symbolism and imagery of the site as well (Ireland, 1999). In their review of demand for cultural tourism, in Chapter 10, Lohmann and Mundt point to the rising stock of educational capital as being a key determinant; from approximately 700,000 German employees with an academic background in 1960, to 5 million today. Concomitant with this growth, the concept of culture has ‘‘become rather unspecific over the years, as almost everything these days is deemed to be ‘culture’’’ (p. 215). In other words, many activities undertaken on holiday can be deemed to be cultural in one sense or another; take for example, participating in the regional cuisine (Hjalager & Corigliano, 2000). Tourism development in the Salzburg region is discussed by East and Luger in Chapter 11. They suggest the imagery of the area has been influenced by the 122 Heimatfilme produced by 1965—these are defined as ‘‘sentimental films in idealized regional settings’’ (p. 229). With release of the Hollywood musical The Sound of Music, the area received the most effective form of promotion possible and, allegedly, three-quarters of tourists give the film as their main reason for visiting today. The Salzburgerland is not unique in this. Saving Private Ryan, The Bridges of Madison County, and Braveheart are just three examples that have stimulated film-induced tourism in their respective locales (Busby & Klug, 2001). However, for the Austrian youth, the imagery of the area constrains them to what Voase terms ‘‘the pre-modern representations to which their locality must, for economic reasons, conform’’ (p. 170).
Book Reviews / Tourism Management 24 (2003) 111–118
In his concluding chapter, Voase manages to pull together the many diverse elements of the preceding chapters, emphasising the extent to which many practices demonstrate the shift from ‘old’ to ‘new’ tourism. Three further influences are discussed in this chapter, namely demographic change, climatic change and the ‘smart’ consumer. Demographic change may well accelerate some tourism patterns and climate change may well lead to diversification policies in some resorts. With the smart consumer, Voase argues that ‘‘apparently active and adventurous ‘new’ tourists’’ can, at the same time, be ‘‘passive consumers’’ (p. 251). This book represents another worthwhile addition to the growing body of tourism literature.
115
Davidson, R., & Maitland, R. (1997). Tourism destinations. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Hjalager, A.-M., & Corigliano, M. A. (2000). Food for tourists— determinants of an image. International Journal of Tourism Research, 2, 281–293. Ireland, M. (1999). Cornishness, conflict and tourism development. In M. Robinson, & P. Boniface (Eds.), Tourism and cultural conflicts (pp. 205–227). Wallingford: CAB International. Meethan, K. (1998). New tourism for old? Policy developments in Cornwall and Devon. Tourism Management, 19(6), 583–595. Morgan, N., & Pritchard, A. (1999). Power and politics at the seaside—the development of Devon’s resorts in the twentieth century. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Shaw, G., & Williams, A. M. (1994). Critical issues in tourism: A geographical perspective. Oxford: Blackwell. Trezise, S. (2000). The West Country as a literary invention—putting fiction in its place. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.
References Busby, G., & Hambly, Z. (2000). Literary tourism and the Daphne du Maurier festival. In P. Payton (Ed.), Cornish Studies 8 (pp. 197–212). Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Busby, G., & Klug, J. (2001). Movie-induced tourism: The challenge of measurement and other issues. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7(4), 316–332.
Graham D. Busby Department of Land Use & Rural Management, Seale-Hayne Faculty, University of Plymouth, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6NQ, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 5 1 7 7 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 4 1 - 9
Service quality management in hospitality, tourism and leisure Jay Kandampully, Connie Mok and Beverley Sparks (Eds.), The Haworth Press, Binghamton, NY, 2001, ISBN 0-7890-1141-7 As the promotional blurb on the back cover of the book states, ‘‘‘Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure’’ highlights concepts and strategies that will improve the delivery of services, and provides clear and simple explanations of theoretical concepts and their practical applications’. It certainly achieves this, giving a concise introduction to the theoretical and practical implications of service quality in the tourism and leisure context. Aimed at both managers and students, this book reinforces the importance of understanding customers and what they value, the processes involved in delivering service through employees and the measurement of service quality. Each chapter describes these processes, relating them to the tourism industry to aid understanding of the theoretical concepts. With service quality a critical management issue for tourism, and with the increasing numbers of papers being published on the topic, many of which highlight original research, the potential scope
for this book is tremendous. It is disappointing, then, that what the editors have achieved is a service quality text book which has merely been adapted to include tourism examples. Its potential has been missed, and what is left is a comprehensive review of service quality which ultimately is deeply unsatisfying for a tourism readership. Despite the inclusion of a number of authors of differing backgrounds giving the book international appeal, there is a singular lack of original research: one chapter out of 17 to be precise. A quick scan of any tourism or leisure journal would suggest a wealth of research being undertaken into service quality in tourism and leisure. Each contributor has offered a useful summary of the service quality literature, but what most have failed to do is add any value. It is unclear, then, why this is offered as an editorial volume as opposed to an authored text. An authored text would have been much more appropriate for the introductory focus of the chapters, and would perhaps have helped to create more obvious links between chapters. The amalgamation of a number of the 17 chapters to create distinct topic areas would have helped to avoid the considerable repetition throughout. Moreover, the editing process itself appears sloppy. There are glaring