Travel & tourism degrowth to what end? Relationships that matter
‘Tourism degrowth’ is viewed suspiciously by some as a conspiracy to tear down capitalism and vastly reduce travel.
According to Tazim Jamal, however, tourism degrowth is much more about fostering healing and nurturing relationships with people and our planet. And she thinks that we should transcend labels and divisions.
It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.)
Between 2009 and 2019, real growth in international tourism receipts (54%) exceeded growth in world GDP (44%). International tourist arrivals grew 4% to reach about 1.5 billion in 2019. Tourism was one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors until the COVID-19 pandemic ground mobilities to a halt in March 2020.
Strong recovery lies ahead. International tourism saw a 182% year-on-year increase in January-March 2022, and destinations globally received about 117 million international arrivals compared to 41 million in Q1 2021.
The devastating pandemic gave us time to contemplate the freedom and right to travel, but also the social and ecological costs of mass tourism that has been enabled by technological innovations and globalisation.
A single-minded focus on economic growth, profit, and consumption to feed large, globalised capital markets has led to unprecedented ecological damage, unsustainable resource exploitation, and climate change.
Many destinations seek to avoid old mistakes and engage with purpose and positivity to facilitate good tourism, restorative justice, and healing.
Consider Amsterdam, for instance, where 11 million visitors in 2005 grew to almost 18 million in 2016, with 23 million tourists anticipated by 2030 (Van der Zee, 2017).
Loss of neighbourhood identity and social cohesion, and physical and environmental degradation, are just some of the adversities of overtourism that Amsterdammers and other highly popular destinations have experienced. Their residents seek more responsible tourism as we emerge from this pandemic.
Many advocate ‘degrowth’ as an important goal.
Degrowth is a label denoting a reversal of growth, but what does it really mean? Degrowth to what end? What really matters?
Also see the “GT” Insight Bites post
“Diverse perspectives on economic degrowth and tourism”
Dualisms (binary divisions) like nature-culture and growth-degrowth detract from the rich relations between humans and all that sustains them. It is time to go beyond dualisms to seek a relational perspective that enables well-being and sustainability.
The Himalayan country of Bhutan, for example, strives to live within planetary means and has been proactive instead of reactive to burgeoning visitor growth.
Bhutan’s development policies are oriented to ‘High Value, Low Volume’ tourism, ecological sustainability and social, cultural, and spiritual well-being. These generative principles are part of a centuries-old philosophy of Gross National Happiness.
Cultural and traditional knowledge complemented by technical and scientific knowledge offer a living development alternative for respectful, appreciative relations between land, cosmos, and people (visitors and diverse resident groups included).
Also see Dorji Dhradhul’s “GT” Insight
“High value, low volume: Is Bhutan’s old normal the world’s new normal?”
As we move forward, many destinations are re-envisioning tourism.
Old ways of dualistic thinking, e.g., (economic) growth ‘versus’ degrowth, are giving way to communal relations and values that facilitate well-being and good tourism.
Modernist and colonialist-capitalist values of self-interested individualism and consumption-driven growth — measured predominantly in terms of market growth and bottom-line profit — are being replaced by community-driven collaborative endeavours, and local and Indigenous values that have been historically suppressed.
Principles of justice and ethics add strength to guide sustainability and resilience. They include ensuring equitable distribution of costs and benefits and fair representation and recognition of diverse and under-served groups in the destination. Also important is incorporating an ethic of care and empathy to guide not just equitable control and ownership of the means of production, but also restorative justice and reconciliation.
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“Sustainable tourism and regenerative tourism”
Perspectives like regenerative tourism draw upon principles of justice and care while avoiding colonialist and modernist thinking. Like regenerative agriculture, which aspires towards improving the soil and ecological resilience, regenerative tourism is about improving the destination; leaving it better and healthier than what it used to be. It, too, eschews the Eurocentric growth-driven mode and engages in community-led tourism and eco-cultural conservation.
The educational sector is rising to the challenge with new initiatives aimed at engaging community, youth, and students in sustainability challenges that directly affect them, e.g., collaborating with Elders on traditional Indigenous practices that enable food security and cultural conservation.
Again, we should go beyond dualisms and labels to focus on values and ethics for a purpose-driven tourism that enables flourishing and well-being, while celebrating and enjoying what we share with others. This approach is deeply relational: participatory and collaborative, inclusive and equitable, restorative and healing.
Also see Tazim Jamal’s first “GT” Insight
“Towards a new paradigm for regenerative tourism and just futures”
Tourism has immense potential to facilitate an active, informed, and participatory civic society that determines for itself what it means to live a good life in relationship with others (human and non-human others). A participatory civic society can determine if and how to share ecological and social-cultural commons, and to heal and nurture a vulnerable Earth and all who share it.
The end goal of tourism degrowth is not to grow visitor numbers and revenues, nor to boost ever-increasing consumption, self-regulating markets, and growth-driven capital market expansion.
Provisioning for food sovereignty and food security, communality, and flourishing ecosystems, where we are attentive to the well-being of both human beings and non-human others, are a good start towards healthy and joyful relations with each other and to the vulnerable planet Earth in the Anthropocene.
What do you think? Share a short anecdote or comment below. Or write a deeper “GT” Insight. The “Good Tourism” Blog welcomes diversity of opinion and perspective about travel & tourism because travel & tourism is everyone’s business.
Featured image (top of post): Degrowth is about relationships that matter. Image (taken in Myanmar) by Sasin Tipchai (CC0) via Pixabay.
About the author
Tazim Jamal is Professor in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University, Texas, USA. Dr Jamal’s primary research areas are sustainable tourism, collaborative tourism planning, and cultural heritage management. She is the author of Justice and Ethics in Tourism (Routledge, 2019), co-editor of Justice and Tourism: Principles and Approaches for Local-Global Sustainability and Well-Being (Routledge, 2021), co-editor of The SAGE Handbook of Tourism Studies (2009), and Associate Editor of the Springer Encyclopedia of Tourism, 2nd edition. Tazim is also Fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism (the “Academy”).