Publications in review / Annals of Tourism Research 38 (2011) 331–346 345

COFFEE CULTURE, DESTINATIONS,AND TOURISM

Edited by Lee Jolliffe. <www.channelviewpublications.com>2010. x + 235 pp. (figures, tables, references, subject index)£19.96 Pbk. ISBN: 978-1-84541-142-8

Iain P. MurrayUniversity of Guelph, Canada

This book is part of the Tourism and Cultural Change series from Channel ViewPublications and has been compiled as a ‘‘companion book to [Jolliffe’s] editedbook Tea and Tourism, Tourists, Traditions, and Transformations (2007)’’ (pvii). Thisis a book that needs to be read to the end although one could start with any chap-ter and, for the most part, read in no particular order. As the editor states in herconclusions, ‘‘[e]ach chapter [provides] a different view of the connection of cof-fee to tourism, from the diverse perspectives of different disciplines and varied cof-fee contexts that include the cafe, cafe districts, coffee events, coffee destinations,coffee tourism experiences, coffee tours, and other forms of coffee tourism at pro-ducing locations’’ (p. 227). As a result of the ‘‘perspectives of different disci-plines’’, readers may find the book a little confusing and may, in fact, find somechapters to be useful and some to be less so. Where to begin?

The quick summary is that the various chapters take the reader from coffee-drinking in developed locations (New York, France, Australia, New Zealand) tothe history of coffee production in Hawai’i, the difficulties of coffee productionin Paupa New Guinea, and then to the trials of establishing coffee tourism in devel-oping countries as a means to augment income of coffee growers. One could beforgiven for thinking that this is a sociology book, or a history book, but it is cer-tainly rich in history of both countries and coffee-production, as well as commen-tary on social issues such as the Fair Trade movement.

As one would expect, some chapters are significantly more engaging than oth-ers, but this may vary depending on the reader’s purpose. In the end, readingthe book was generally fascinating and a few chapters (12 and 13 in particular)would be excellent reading for any jurisdiction or group that wants to establish atourism venue to complement a coffee-growing operation, comparable to thedevelopment of wine tourism.

In Chapter 2, Michael Hall discusses servicescapes and semiotics of cafes inChristchurch N.Z. This is followed by Weaver (Chapter 3) exploring the contribu-tion to urban tourism of cafes in Wellington NZ. Chapter 7 examines the vibrantcafe culture in Melbourne and suggests reasons why Starbucks failed in Australia.These chapters are in sharp contrast to chapters 12 and 13 which, respectively, pro-file projects in Tanzania and Costa Rica to develop and implement coffee tourismwithin coffee-growing communities. Occupying the academic and social space inbetween these extremes are several disparate chapters. Chapter 5, for example,examines the transformation of traditional coffee houses in Cyprus to ones thathave been contrived specifically for tourists but with the intent of making themseem like they are traditional. Chapter 9, ‘‘Serendipitous Coffee Experiences in Pa-pau New Guinea’’, presents some experiences of an Australian researcher as she

Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 345–346, 2011Printed in Great Britain

346 Publications in review / Annals of Tourism Research 38 (2011) 331–346346 Publications in review / Annals of Tourism Research 38 (2011) 331–346

works in the country on coffee-production research projects. This is the one chap-ter, although an interesting read, that does not seem to fit the rest of the book.

Spread among several chapters, significant writing is devoted to the world of‘‘Fair Trade’’ and its accompanying issues and governing bodies. Chapter 10 dis-cusses it in the context of its growth in hospitality outlets such as Starbucks andMcDonald’s. Chapter 11 deals with it from the viewpoint of a Canadian coffee com-pany and their positive fair trade dealings with coffee producers.

Although there are some frustrating spelling and typographical errors in thebook, the main complaint is that the photographs (in some chapters referred toas ‘‘plates’’ and in others as ‘‘figures’’) were disappointing and really did little ifanything to support the message of their respective chapters. The fact that theyare black and white is not the problem; they simply did not add to the understand-ing of the written message.

A reader of this book will likely come away with some solid history and sociologylessons and, depending on his/her interests, some useful and potentially though-provoking ideas about coffee consumption, coffee production, fair trade, and thepotential for all aspects of coffee to bolster existing tourism products both in devel-oped and developing countries. Those responsible for tourism developmentshould read this book. As the various authors periodically note, coffee tourism isnot likely to be a reason for travel in itself, but it may well form a part of the com-pelling package of experiences that will tip the scales of a tourist who is decidingwhere to go.

Iain Murray: School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University ofGuelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1. Email <imurray@uoguelph.ca>

Assigned 15 June 2010. Submitted 13 August 2010. Accepted 20 August 2010.

doi:10.1016/j.annals.2010.11.011