Abstract

This book is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about humour in all kinds of tourism settings. It discusses the many ways in which humour can occur during tourism exchanges including guided tours, tourism marketing and promotion and travel narratives. Other themes include the role of humour in enhancing the tourist experience, the benefits of tourism humour, considerations of when humour may appear inappropriate in tourism settings and the development of tourism humour theory. The work includes much original material collected by the authors. The book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers of tourism as well as humour scholars from other disciplines.

This is a wonderful book to read and not surprisingly is full of great jokes. It is richly documented and extensively researched. Sprinkled with great case studies throughout, the book is a pioneering work in the use and influence of humour in tourism. Every serious scholar in this field should pick up a copy and read this work from cover to cover.

Overall, this is a great book, which investigates an underresearched topic in tourism and makes an essential contribution to conceptualising the tourist experience economy. The book is easy to read, does not require prior knowledge and is structured in a logical manner. I highly recommend it to the researchers in tourism.

This pioneering work opens the eyes to the manifold and often surprising links between humour and tourism. Though its subject is fun, it is a serious psychological study. Departing from some basic theories of humour, it brings together in a highly readable form the many contemporary perspectives in psychology to the study of humour, and illustrates their deployment by a wealth of examples from manifold sources. 

This is a most enjoyable serious academic read! I find myself smiling, laughing, learning, feeling amused and inspired while reading this insightful yet pleasurable book. The light-hearted writing style integrates underlying theories and examples of humour in tourism contexts, with personal insights permeated throughout the discourse. The authors successfully demonstrated that humour is no laughing matter and serves important roles in the tourist experience.

Philip L. Pearce is Foundation Professor of Tourism at James Cook University, Australia. His research focuses on tourist behaviour, notably tourist motivation and experience, tourism and communities and tourism education and research.

Anja Pabel has recently completed her PhD at James Cook University, Australia. Her main research interests are: tourist behaviour, humour research, marine tourism and the experience economy.

My congratulations to both authors for this extremely interesting and thought-provoking book. Reading it, I had many good laughs and learned a great deal. I even admit to intending to steal a few of their ideas to include in my future research and lecturing.