All the world's a field: a history of the scientific study tour

Abstract

Study tours represent one of the fastest growing wings of the tourism industry. This paper traces their development through the history of conducted tours and the history of scientific field research. Antecedents to the modern study tour are examined, while the development of museum-sponsored tours and alumni tours in the second half of this century are given special attention. The current growth of the study tour is found to be attributable to external factors, such as the emergence of jet travel and funding cuts in learned institutions, while the taste for study tours is found to have originated earlier. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.