Mike Robinson and Marina Novelli

The concept of niche tourism has emerged in recent years in counter-point to what is commonly referred to as mass tourism . It implies a more sophisticated set of practices that distinguish and differentiate tourists. In a globalising world of increasing sameness, niche tourism represents diversity and ways of marking difference. It plays on the pejorative connotations that have accompanied the evolution of mass and package tourism and their, often cited, negative impacts in relation to environmental degradation and socio-cultural disturbance. For destination managers and planners seeking to utilise tourism as a mechanism for economic development, the niche tourism approach appears to offer greater opportunities and a tourism that is more sustainable, less damaging and, importantly, more capable of delivering high-spending tourists. For tourists, niche tourism appears to offer a more meaningful set of experiences in the knowledge that their needs and wants are being met. But what exactly is niche tourism? What is its genealogy? What are its drivers and how does it relate to the experience of the tourist?