Velvet Nelson

My research focus is on travel and tourism as a topic of geographic inquiry. Travel is one of the most significant ways we know the world, and it is something I try to do as often as I can. I teach a course on tourism geography at SHSU, and I am the author of the textbook, An Introduction to the Geography of Tourism (3rd Edition, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021). 

My initial research interest was in the Caribbean as a major destination region. I have traveled throughout much of the region and conducted research in places like Grenada, St. Vincent, and Dominica. I have also spent time in Central Europe. In 2010, I was a Fulbright Scholar in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Primorska in Slovenia. I have since returned to the university as a visiting scholar in the Faculty of Tourism (2013, 2014, 2018). In addition, I have studied issues related to tourism in the Huntsville community, the city of Houston, and around Texas. 

I am an editorial board member for Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Geographies, Journal of Cultural Geography, and Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie. I am also a board member of the International Geographical Union’s Commission on the Geography of Tourism, Leisure and Global Change and a member of the American Association of Geographer's International Research and Scholarly Exchange Committee.