348 Book reviews / Tourism Management 24 (2003) 345–352

attempts to tell us what gastronomy is but, after several presumably unlike the rest of us, have values and care
readings, this reviewer was none the wiser. It seems to be about their work. We learn hardly anything about how
about the appreciation of food but then the rest of the they used materials of the kitchen in innovative ways. In
book denies this by being very much a chef’s-eye view of other words, we simply aren’t told enough about what
gastronomy. Everything you can think of is involved but their contribution to cooking actually was. In fact, we
then, if that is true, the book simply reflects that get more of an insight into their thinking as businessmen
inherent lack of synthesis within the subject itself. than as cooks. Towards the end of Chapter 4, we get an
Chapter 2, which is largely a historical review, is an extraordinary matrix, which cross tabulates famous
oasis of order. It is informative, if a little condensed, and chefs against some random characteristics taken from
it does not include the recent historical material on the the biographies. According to ‘cell 13’ some chefs
derivation of the restaurant. From history, the book experienced childhood trauma. As no one is being
then leaps into something called modern gastronomy, accused of excessive ambition or commis- bullying—
which includes design. Conran is nowhere to be seen. why do we need to know this? We have drifted a long
Surely even a book where the word Europe actually way from the appreciation of food.
implies ‘continental’ should explain such movements as It is undoubtedly true that the author is a sincere
the metropolitanisation of dining in the UK and the rise expert on cuisine and the book works best when he is
of the Chardonnay grape everywhere—not to mention talking exclusively about food and its history and
designer food. If you want to know just when food went meaning. In this respect, the book has some merit.
from the serving flat to the large plate, surely a defining But, he has been very badly served by an editorial
moment in terms of the appreciation of food, you won’t process that is conspicuous by its absence. Notwith-
find the answer here. The contribution of the media standing the lack of synthesis in gastronomy itself, the
to the dissemination of gastronomy is given a very book makes its own confusions. It puts out two
conservation run out. In a way, this betrays the elitism messages as to what gastronomy is. On the one hand,
that lies at the heart of this interpretation of gastro- it seems to be just about everything and on the other, it
nomy—there is no room for such post-modern icons as is the work of visionary chefs. This latter position is
‘Naked Chefs’, supermarket versions of haute cuisine simply unconvincing. Just how do we get to appreciate
and the aforementioned TV cook-shows. It is about their work? Is there a process at work in society that
haute cuisine, more specifically, the products of ‘great’ moves us upward in terms of taste in food? This is a
chefs. narrow, chef-orientated and rather messy book.
The second part of the book from Chapter 4 onwards
is really about the chef as Super-hero. We get
biographies of mainly continental European chefs. We Michael Riley
are told of their many awards and that they are leaders, School of Management Studies for the Service Sector,
which serves as a cue for a spot of cod leadership and University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
strategic theory. They are also philosophers and, E-mail address: m.riley@surrey.ac.uk

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Consumer psychology of tourism, hospitality and leisure While the concept of the consumer in tourism,
(volume 2) hospitality and leisure has been well documented in
J.A. Mazanec, G.I. Crouch, J.R. Brent Richie and the academic literature over the years (e.g. Andreason,
A.G. Woodside (Eds.); CABI Publishing/CAB Interna- 1965; Mathieson & Wall, 1982; Ryan, 1997; Swarbrooke
tional, Wallingford, Oxon, 2001, xii+351pp., price & Horner, 1999), this volume focuses on recent progress
d49.95 in consumer psychology theory and research. The
Vienna Symposium placed special emphasis on con-
Consumer Psychology of Tourism, Hospitality and sumer decision making for evaluating choice alternatives
Leisure is a selection of papers from the Second in tourism, leisure and hospitality operations. The 21
Symposium on the Consumer Psychology of Tourism, reports have been arranged into five parts. These
Hospitality and Leisure held in Vienna, Austria, divisions are as follows:
during July, 2000. It follows the format of the first ‘‘Part 1 deals with tourist destinations, their struggle
volume, published in 2000, creating a series of research for competitive advantage and its measurement. Part 2
papers on this topic. A third symposium is planned for goes into tourist destination processes and analyses
Melbourne this year, and this may well form a third some of the choice rules consumers exhibit in evaluating
book. tourism products. Part 3 outlines several criteria for
 Book reviews / Tourism Management 24 (2003) 345–352 349

travel market segmentation while Part 4 discusses recent marketing, tourism, hospitality and leisure. It is well laid
improvements in the methods that are instrumental in out and the font and format is easy to read. One of the
detecting or building tourist segments. Part 5 watches disadvantages of publishing a range of research
the tourists’ consumption experience and reviews recent reports such as this, however, is the lack of
results in service quality and satisfaction monitoring’’ coherence and flow within the book, and the subsequent
(p. xi). lack of an incremental build-up of knowledge. This
The specific reports vary widely in topic, from the book is therefore, more suited as a library reference
impacts of minor methodological changes (Beaman book than a text.
et al.) to the impact of Jungian personality types on One minor criticism of the book is a lack of
leisure preferences (Gountas & Gountas); from the consistency. Chapter 12 has no abstract, while Chapter
consumption of tour routes in cultural landscapes 13 has no conclusions—these are both important
(Oliver) to a model of consumption systems in tourism sections in an edited report book such as this. Further,
(King & Woodside). the book could have been improved, in my view,
My particular favourite was a chapter examining the with a summary chapter drawing together the main
relative influences of personality type (as depicted by the themes, advances and identifying possible future direc-
Myers–Briggs Type Indicator) and demographics on tions.
leisure preferences (McGuiggan). The assumption here Overall, Consumer Psychology of Tourism, Hospitality
is that people with a preference for extraversion are and Leisure (volume 2) is a thought-provoking and
likely to seek leisure activities which involve others while worthwhile book. As neurologists unveil more and more
those with a preference for introversion are more likely of how the human brain works, consumer psychologists
to seek more isolated areas. Similarly, a person with a will begin to address why we do what we do. It is an
preference for perceiving is more likely to enjoy expanding field of research—I await the third volume
spontaneous travel, while a person with a preference with anticipation!
for judging will be more inclined to thoroughly plan
their leisure experience. An understanding of others’
personality types can lead to a prediction of the type of References
leisure activity they may prefer. McGuiggan’s research
found that personality certainly accounted for some Andreason, A. R. (1965). Attitudes and consumer behaviour: A
attributes of leisure, but demographic variables were decision model. In L. Preston (Ed.), New research in marketing.
Institute of business and economic research (pp. 1–16). Berkeley:
also important.
University of California.
All of the reports in the book, however, are Mathieson, A., & Wall, G. (1982). Tourism: Economic, physical and
fascinating for those of us attempting to understand social impacts. Harlow: Longman.
why we make the consumer choices we do with respect Ryan, C. (Ed.) (1997). The tourist experience: A new introduction.
to tourism, hospitality and leisure. The reader does get London: Cassell.
the impression that many of the reports represent Swarbrooke, J., & Horner, S. (1999). Consumer behaviour in tourism.
Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
leading edge research—one is often left with more
questions than answers. I was also taken by the
Kaye Thorn
possibilities that could be generated by duplicating the
Department of Management and International Business,
research reported in this book, in other countries, or
Massey University, Albany, Private Bag 102 904,
with different sample populations.
North Shore MSC, Auckland,
Consumer Psychology of Tourism, Hospitality and
New Zealand
Leisure is undoubtedly an interesting book, relevant for
E-mail address: k.j.thorn@massey.ac.nz
academics and graduate researchers in the fields of

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Tourism and China’s development: Policies, regional the uneven regional development between coastal and
economic growth and ecotourism inland areas, and investigate the ability of tourism to
J.J. Wen and C.A. Tisdell; World Scientific, Singapore, counteract such uneven advancement and to promote
2001, xxvi + 399pp., US$58, ISBN 981-02-4433-9 (pbk) decentralized development. This book was an extension
of the lead author’s Ph.D. thesis. The authors admitted
The authors of this book aimed to document China’s in the Preface that when the research was commenced,
continued growth in economic and tourism, discuss little did they know that China would become one of the