Event overview
Tourism rose to become one the world’s fastest industries just as decolonisation was getting underway, bringing promises of easily achieved “development” and a consistent flow of income towards the host economies. However, for many who live under its hold, tourism has become just another instrument through which extractive pressures continue to be felt.
Despite ongoing and much publicised efforts to turn tourism into an ecologically and socially sustainable activity, it has persistently failed to deliver on its promises. Instead, tourism voraciously consumes natural resources, common heritage, infrastructures and territory. Moreover, with a terraforming capacity unmatched by any other industry, and an ability to imbricate itself into all aspects of life, it seems to foreclose the possibility of any alternative futures.
As protests emerge around the world asking tourists to stay away and traditional tourist destinations suffer the blunt force of climate change, there is a new urgency to rethinking our profound attachment to tourism. Dismantling the imaginaries that have come to stand for an elusive “good life” to be found elsewhere will only be a first step.
Yaiza Hernández Velázquez is a lecturer in the Visual Cultures department, where she leads the BA History of Art.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Oct 2023 | 5:15pm - 7:00pm |
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