Salvador Anton Clavé

Since the 1980s, the theme park industry has developed into a global phenomenon, with everything from large, worldwide theme parks to countless smaller ventures. From the first pleasure gardens to the global theme park companies, this book provides an understanding of the nature and function of theme parks as spaces of entertainment. Illustrated throughout by worldwide case studies, empirical data and practical examples, the book portrays the impacts of theme park as global competitive actors, agents of global development and cultural symbols, particularly in the context of their role in the developing experience economy. In conclusion, this book is a practical guide to the planning and development of theme parks.

The Global Theme Park Industry

Patrick Brouder

Alison Gill

Dimitri Ioannides

Outlining the need for fresh perspectives on change in tourism, this book offers a theoretical overview and empirical examples of the potential synergies of applying evolutionary economic geography (EEG) concepts in tourism research. EEG has proven to be a powerful explanatory paradigm in other sectors and tourism studies has a track record of embracing, adapting, and enhancing frameworks from cognate fields. EEG approaches to tourism studies complement and further develop studies of established themes such as path dependence and the Tourism Area Life Cycle. The individual chapters draw from a broad geographical framework and address distinct conceptual elements of EEG, using a diverse set of tourism case studies from Europe, North America and Australia. Developing the theoretical cohesion of tourism and EEG, this volume also gives non-specialist tourism scholars a window into the possibilities of using these concepts in their own research. Given the timing of this publication, it has great potential value to the wider tourism community in advancing theory and leading to more effective empirical research.

Tourism Destination Evolution

From the first pleasure gardens to the global theme park companies, this book provides an understanding of the nature and function of theme parks as spaces of entertainment. It portrays the impacts of theme parks as global competitive actors, agents of global development and cultural symbols, in the context of their role in the developing economy.

Salvador Anton Clavé

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