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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper was to to argue that although there are many ways of conceptualising the nature of the tourist experience, the clearest ontological platform from which to explain this nature is through the concept of pleasure. Pleasure as the utlimate end or supreme good (the summum bonum) has occupied the thoughts of philosophers for millennia. A synthesis of the historical discourse on the summum bonum is distilled into four main themes: philosophical, Christian, evolutionary and learning-based, and Enlightenment. From these perspectives, two different types of tourism are highlighted, ego-centred (e.g. cruiseline tourism) and other-centred (e.g. voluntourism), with the aim of discussing how pleasure is the guiding force behind each. Given the lack of emphasis on the summum bonum in tourism studies, and in scholarship more generally, there is an obligatory focus here on old insight into this very old concept.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.