Prospects and Challenges in the Study of New Age Tourism: A Critical Commentary

Abstract

The New Age phenomenon is a marginal unknown in tourism studies, despite its inclusion under the broader umbrella of religious tourism, and various attempts to conceptualize it as a form of New Age tourism. It offers an opportunity for researchers in the field to study a large part of a society that is neither separate from, nor necessarily included in, categories of religion. In this review article, Pernecky and Poulston challenge typical tourism approaches to segmenting markets into discrete groups, and work with the premise that if approached through an understanding of social, cultural, political, and spiritual contexts, New Age is a fertile capping term for a phenomenon that shapes the global mind change, shifting values, understandings, and behaviors in the world. To address broader concerns, the authors provide both a critical review of existing definitions and conceptualizations of the New Age phenomenon and an historical foundation for both the phenomenon and the term. Pernecky and Poulston also highlight potential pitfalls in the study of the New Age concept, and present a complex set of challenges for tourism researchers, students, and practitioners who may be tempted by etic framings of the subject. In that light, the authors emphasize the need for emic approaches, that is, those which painstakingly and demonstrably acknowledge the perspectives, viewpoints, and experiences of the actors involved, which they argue are more richly suited for understanding “New Agers.” Importantly, the review article presents the New Age movement and concept not only as a singular “special interest group,” but as a context of noteworthy conceptual value, as touristic objects, places, and experiences indeed play a vital role in the constitution of meaning and interpretation—that is, in the worldmaking processes of our time. (Abstract by Reviews Editor)