Why We Love to Tour: Gazing from the Serious Leisure Perspective offers a fresh and nuanced exploration of tourism, distinct from traditional industry-focused narratives. Stebbins delves into tourism as a rich tapestry of leisure activities that provide personal satisfaction and self-fulfilment, framed within the social worlds and lifestyles that accompany these pursuits. This book expands and enriches the gaze, tracing leisure experiences across serious pursuits in art, science, sports, and entertainment; casual leisure in activities like sightseeing and nature exploration; and project-based leisure through unique, one-time adventures such as climbing Mount Fuji, visiting Paris, or swimming with dolphins.

Why We Love to Tour thus complements and extends the understanding of the tourist gaze, making it a valuable resource for academics as a monograph, for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students as supplementary reading, and for professionals within the tourism industry seeking deeper insights into the motivations driving modern tourists.