Most  research in Tourism geography has been inductive, aiming to generalize models of tourism structures and flows on the bases of detailed quantitative analyses. They focus on tourist travel, origin place ,destination flows, and the spatial structures of tourism destination areas .

Evolutionary models

have examined the development of tourism spaces through time, especially resorts, and the most widely known of these is Butler’s (1980) resort life cycle. In recognition of the limitations of aggregate analyses of macrotourism flows and structures, tourism geographers have embraced behavioralism, aiming to understand the decision-making and (spatial) behavior of tourists.

The political economy of tourism

Political economy is a  study of production and trade and their links with custom, government and law. It is the study and use of how economic theory and methods influence and develop different social and economic systems, such as capitalism, socialism and communism; it also analyzes how state policy is made and operated.

Political economy decides the shape of tourism  in regions and broadly draws on structuralist theories. Much of the work in this field has been concerned with issues such as the commercialization  of culture and of place, and the particularities of tourism product and consumption. Studies use case studies which range from tourism dependency in less developed countries to urban and rural regeneration in developed economies.

Cultural interpretations

Tourism geographers have a longstanding interest in the notion of place, and in the way in which tourism is both shaped by and shapes places.Tourism is an encounter between people, and between people and space . Cultural tourism geography  emphasizes that knowledge is fluid  and is reshaped by practices which enhances our understanding of tourist destination . Culture is the main pulling force for tourists often. Culture is one of the main determinants of National and International Tourism Demand.