Avoiding Accidental Tourism: Reference Resources for Travel Research

Tourism's size and importance are underrated. National Geographic speculates that tourism is the largest industry in the world, generating one trillion dollars a year, and just for the United States, travel receipts for 2002 were $67,451,000. For all of that activity, most patrons and librarians are only aware of the booking websites such as Travelocity. This paper will discuss industry-specific sites that offer information for researchers and for travelers interested in going off the beaten path. (C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.