Engaging the New Mobilities Paradigm in Contemporary African Tourism Research

Abstract

The new mobilities paradigm has emerged, becoming a prominent feature in contemporary social science research. Mobility, as one would assume, focuses primarily on the movement and mobilisation of people and has consequently become increasingly associated with a field synonymous with movements en masse, that is, travel and tourism. While research relating to tourism and the notion of mobility has grown sporadically in the developed world, it has remained largely absent in the African context. Moreover, this new paradigm presents contemporary researchers with the opportunity to move away from dichotomies and instead observe tourist destinations as settings that simultaneously exhibit myriad networks, vectors and performances.