Reconceptualizing tourism

This article argues that in order to facilitate a more effective transition to sustainability, tourism researchers need to keep abreast of transformations occurring in related fields, especially ecosystem ecology, ecological economics, global change science, and complexity theory. New knowledge from these spheres relating to complex adaptive systems, a necessary retreat from reductionism, extensive integration of human and natural systems, new interpretations of sustainability, and the emergence of sustainability science is of great relevance to contemporary tourism study. The article provides an introduction to the potentially extensive application of this knowledge to tourism and concludes by suggesting a reconceptualization of the field of study to accommodate it.