Perfect read for the traveler in me even if I’m experiencing the world from my reading chair. A very informative interesting look at the world of travel today.I really enjoyed this book.#netgalley #scribner

An interesting look on at how tourism has affected our world and traveling in general. I think it would be good for a frequent flyer/traveler.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

For anyone who has traveled by book this one is for you. An interesting foray into the history of modern travel and those who do it best. Perfect read for the plane ride to your next adventure.

As a scholar and tourism researcher, I was very interested in the topic of this book. I was hoping it might be something I could assign for undergraduate students to get them to think more deeply about their travels and the ramifications of the current-day broad-scale movements of human beings for pleasure or curiosity around the globe. This did not turn out to be the book I was seeking, but it is a good starting place for anyone curious about how tourism has transformed lives, for better or for worse. The book is very engagingly narrated, and most of what is presented is based on the author's travels and personal conversations with people involved in tourism. The author is a humble, likeable presence in the book and offers many compelling examples. There is a chapter that focuses heavily on over-tourism in Barcelona that everyone should read, as through personal stories it paints a picture of how a beloved tourist destination can transformed for the worse for locals by too much tourist-love. Some of the stories of how tourism has positively transformed cities are also inspiring (for example the case of Liverpool). What makes the book readable is also why I docked a star. For the author did not sufficiently articulate her informal interviews with the in-depth scholarship that has been done in the locales she discusses. I am not suggesting this should have been an academic book with volumes of embedded references--in fact, the appeal of this book is that it is engaging and personal. Loading it down with references and scholarship would have made it far less appealing. However, although the author periodically nods at older tourism concepts, the generalizability of some of those concepts have been debated in recent years (such as the Butler model of the life cycle of tourism destinations, which has been qualified by some subsequent writers). Hence the deduction of one star. However, most people will read the book and take in the broader important message--that tourism can have both very positive and very negative ramifications for local communities. The global planetary crisis and tourism's acceleration of it is also discussed and everyone should read her chapter on that. Overall, this book is useful and I recommend it as a starting place for the general reader interested in knowing more about how tourism has touched lives, for better or for worse, in different parts of the world.

An informative, engaging, and thought-provoking look at tourism and its consequences. Recommended anyone in the mood to learn and reflect on their travels (and consider how to be a more conscious traveler in the future).

Thank you very much to Scribner and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.