Peace and tourism: Bridging the gap through justice

Peace & Change, Volume 46, Issue 3, Page 286-309, July 2021.

Abstract

The inclusion of peace as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 16) in the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 underscores the interrelationships between peace, economic development, durable security, and promoting human rights. Within this context, tourism has been heralded by scholars and practitioners as a means to alleviate negative prejudice and improve human relations. Yet the existing research on tourism as peacebuilding shows little supportive evidence of tourism’s contributory role to peace, and instead forwards numerous claims that tourism inhibits peacebuilding by exacerbating economic, political, and socio-cultural inequalities between opposing groups. This study examines the role of tourism as a potential vehicle for justice that may bridge the gap between tourism and sustainable peace. More precisely, it considers tourism as an agent of justice addressing economic, political, and social inequalities between opposing groups through distributive, procedural, and restorative justice-related activities. Its analysis and findings offer insights that contribute to peace-through-tourism theory and practice while enhancing understanding of tourism’s contribution to the UN’s sustainable development goals.

This was originally published on Wiley: Peace & Change: Table of Contents.