Tourism as complex interdisciplinary research object

Tourism is currently a complex and globalised phenomenon with demonstrated socio-economic importance. While tourism is a socially recognised phenomenon, its status as scientific object within an academic field seems to be still in question. We ask the following questions: What is the order of construction of the field of knowledge constituted around tourism? Is it a paradigmatic order or an epistemic order? In what ways do the scientific object’s specificities constitute an important element of understanding of a new episteme? How do different definitions of tourism allow for a reconstruction of the field? This article seeks to summarise the current debate in the light of broader reconstructions of scientific discourse and reflect from an interdisciplinary epistemological perspective.

► Definition of tourism as a scientific object with specific complexity. ► A reconstruction of three important moments of the history of tourism studies. ► An acknowledgment of English-, German- and French-speaking literature. ► An identification of key issues for interdisciplinary research of tourism.