Guest editorial

Citation

Buhalis, D. (2020), "Guest editorial", Tourism Review, Vol. 75 No. 1, pp. 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-02-2020-405

75 years of Tourism Review

It is an honour and a privilege to present the 75th Anniversary Issue of Tourism Review, the most established journal in tourism. Over the years, Tourism Review has evolved into an instrument of scientific debate, making an invaluable contribution to tourism research and practice.

Back in 1940s, the fathers of tourism, as we know and study today, Swiss scholars, Walter Hunziker and Kurt Krapf, from the University of St. Gallen and University of Bern, respectively, felt an urgency to develop tourism scientific research (Hunziker and Krapf, 1941, 1942; Hunziker, 1943, 1951, Akoglu, 2015a, 2015b). They created The Tourism Review as a universal instrument to support this development. They introduced the Inaugural Issue of The Tourism Review on 1 January 1946 with “en guise d’introduction” in French (Figure 1) (Hunziker and Krapf, 1946). In their extreme foresight and in a typical Swiss fashion, the Journal was originally published in English, French and German and was named in three languages as The Tourist’s Review, Revue de Tourisme and Zeitschrift für Fremdenverkehr, respectively. From the introduction it is evident that they were intrigued by the role tourism would play in the post-war era as an instrument for economic development and, more importantly, peace and global understanding. They developed the Journal as an instrument for public debate between policymakers and scientific discovery. They were concerned about the scientific efforts and collaboration in a divided and badly hurt post-war Europe. They designed the Journal as a living organism that brings out scientific discoveries and tourism policies covering practical and technical issues. They published it in short intervals to support knowledge and debate between analysts, teachers and students of tourism in a wider political and economic environment. Tourism Review was designed to complement the professional bodies of tourism and support researchers and professionals by sharing knowledge and expertise, in several languages, supporting the universal nature of tourism. The launch of the Journal was then followed by the establishment of the “Association Internationale d’Experts Scientifiques du Tourisme” (AIEST) in 1950 in Rome. Over time, the AIEST has become a genuine worldwide network of tourism experts and will celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2020.

75 years later, the Journal respectfully honours the foresight, vision, commitment, innovation and memory of its founders. The Journal has since developed through the association with AIEST until 2016 and under the leadership of very capable editors like Walter Hunziker, Kurt Krapf, Claude Kaspar, Hanspeter Schmidhauser, Peter Keller, Thomas Bieger, Christian Laesser and Harald Pechlaner (Laesser et al., 2020).

It is surprising how little the mission has changed and that even 75 years later, the Journal continues the same dream and vision of making a global contribution. Tourism Review is the oldest and the most established journal that addresses a wide spectrum of tourism issues. This special Jubilee Issue brings together 75 articles of varying perspectives to celebrate the heritage of the Journal and to give a projection into its bright future. Authors were asked to provide their perspectives in their areas of expertise, reflecting on the past and gazing into the future. The articles have been organised in several sections, namely, research, consumers, industry, special forms of tourism, destination management, planning and sustainability management and strategy and technology. We are tremendously grateful for these inspiring contributions and their visionary insights.

As an inclusive research output platform, Tourism Review aims to incorporate multi-disciplinary research studies and theories as well as best practices to advance the understanding of tourism and support its wide access. In addition to addressing consumers, industries, policies and destinations, Tourism Review is exploring the tourism phenomenon and industry holistically as an ecosystem. The Journal has a global perspective and encourages the exchange of views across geographical regions, cultures and disciplines. Its inclusive strategy encourages publications from all aspects of tourism globally and encourages innovation and diversity. The Journal is stronger than ever and ultimately aims to enhance the impact and relevance of excellent tourism research for the global society at large.

Figures

Figure 1

Introduction to inaugural issue of The Tourist Review “En guise d’introduction” in French