Luxury Tourism, Developing Destinations: Research Review and Trajectories

Contemporary tourism scholarship on luxury travel and destinations has largely focused on developed regions and mature destinations. The study of luxury tourism in emerging or developing destinations merits equal scrutiny. An examination of this composite dichotomy of luxury and developing destinations offers new ways of conceptualizing resources utilized, maintained and made available in emerging luxury destinations. There are three parts to this paper: 1) a survey of the literature to better understand the stage and state of luxury tourism in emerging destinations 2) an evaluation of developments and allocation of resources vis-à-vis luxury tourism and 3) identification of a research trajectory for luxury tourism as an emerging area in developing destinations. This study contends that though luxury tourism seemingly stands in an inverse relationship to developing destinations, it is important to understand the nascent stage of growth and challenges as found in existing literature into full circle.