Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research

Quality of life (QOL) research in tourism has gained much momentum over the last two decades. Academics working in this area research issues related to tourists and host communities. Practitioners are becoming increasingly interested in understanding the science that allows them to develop better marketing and managerial programs designed to enhance the quality of life of tourists. Tourism bureaus and government agencies are increasingly interested in issues of sustainable tourism, specifically in understanding and measuring the impact of tourism on the quality of life of the residents of the host communities. This handbook covers all relevant topics and is divided into two parts: research relating to travelers/tourists, and research relating to the residents of host communities. It is the only state-of-the-art reference book in its field and will prove invaluable to academics interested in QOL research, as well as tourism practitioners interested in applying the science of QOL in the tourism industry.

From the reviews:“The handbook is first international reference book … bringing together much of the current research on the topic to help practitioners use well-being performance measures in their decision making processes and aid academic researchers further develop their future research programmes. … authors of the handbook also formulate research questions in order to stimulate further studies in the field of QOL and tourism. … Due to its comprehensive coverage, the volume may be recommended both for researchers … and for local and regional decision-makers … .” (Tamara Rátz, Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, Vol. 62 (2), 2013)

Muzaffer Uysal is a professor of tourism (Ph.D., Texas A&M University), Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He has extensive experience in the travel and tourism field, authoring or co-authoring a significant number of articles in tourism, hospitality and recreation journals, proceedings, book chapters, and four monographs and one book relating to different aspects of tourism marketing, demand/supply interaction and international tourism. He also has conducted workshops and seminars on similar topics and field research in several countries. He is a member of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism, the Academy of Leisure Sciences, and serves as co-editor of Tourism Analysis: an Interdisciplinary journal. In addition, he sits on the editorial boards of eight journals, including Journal of Travel Research, and Annals of Tourism Research as resource editor. He also received a number of awards for Research, Excellence in International Education, and Teaching Excellence. His current research interests center on tourism demand/supply interaction, tourism development, and QOL research in tourism. Richard Perdue is a professor of tourism (Ph.D., Texas A&M University), and Head of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He is an elected fellow, board chair, and past president of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism.  Additionally, he currently serves as editor of the Journal of Travel Research which is widely recognized as one of the premier scholarly journals in tourism.  He is also currently on the Board of Directors of the Travel and Tourism Research Association and on the editorial boards of three other tourism research journals.  He has published extensively in the tourism scholarly literature, including numerous articles, proceedings, book chapters, and one book examining consumer psychology in tourism and hospitality settings.  Over the past three decades, much of his research has focused on the effects of tourism development.  His current research focuses on consumer behavior and sustainable development of tourism in rural, resort settings.   M. Joseph Sirgy is a social/consumer/organizational psychologist (Ph.D., U/Massachusetts, 1979), Professor of Marketing, and Virginia Real estate Research Fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He has published extensively in the area of quality-of-life (QOL) research, business ethics, systems science, and organizational/consumer psychology. He is the author/editor of many books related to quality of life and business ethics. He co-founded the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) in 1995 and is currently serving as its Executive Director. In 1998, he received the Distinguished Fellow Award from ISQOLS. In 2003, ISQOLS honored him as the Distinguished QOL Resear