Hey, travel & tourism, are you ‘neocolonialist’?

Do your travel & tour­ism oper­a­tions or aca­dem­ic pur­suits con­trib­ute to a “con­tinu­ation or reim­pos­i­tion of imper­i­al­ist rule”?

Are they part of your nation’s efforts to influ­ence a less developed land and exploit its resources?

As a travel & tour­ism stake­hold­er, are you, as some would say, a neocolonialist? 

Dis­cuss.

Your cor­res­pond­ent put these ques­tions about tour­ism and neo­co­lo­ni­al­ism to “GT’s” diverse net­work of travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers — “GT” Insight authors, “GT” Part­ners, and their invit­ees — and reques­ted writ­ten responses of no more than 300 words. 

Thanks to those who chose to par­ti­cip­ate. Their answers appear in the order received. 

Click/touch a name to go to their answer:

• Jim Butcher — ‘It’s a cat­egory error of immense proportions!’
• Dav­id Jar­ratt — Inter­na­tion­al tour­ism stu­dents gen­er­ally disagree
• Saverio Francesco Ber­to­lu­cci — Bene­fits out­weigh prob­lems most of the time
• Greg Bak­un­zi — Not in Rwanda
• Edwin Magio — ‘We can break free from the grip of neocolonialism’
• K Michael Hay­wood — ‘I find lead­ing ques­tions annoying’

What AI ‘thinks’:

• Chat­G­PT — ‘Cat­egor­ising all activ­it­ies as neo­co­lo­ni­al­ist oversimplifies’
• Bard — ‘I do not believe that I am a neocolonialist’

More import­antly:

• What do you think?

Pre­vi­ous “GT” Insight Bites:

• Who’s the new boss? Asia Pacific tour­ism industry asso­ci­ation seeks leader
• ‘The hos­pit­al­ity industry offers a great career.’ Really?
• Cruise ships: Bless­ing or blight?
• Tour­ist vs trav­el­ler: What’s the difference?
• The heads of fin­ance, oper­a­tions, and PR walk into their boss’s office … 
• Yes, Tour­ism Minister
• What are tourism’s biggest chal­lenges & threats over the next five years?
• ‘Tour­ism is built on the back­bone of white suprem­acy’. What do you think?
• Really, what’s the dif­fer­ence? ‘Sus­tain­able tour­ism’ vs ‘regen­er­at­ive tourism’
• Want a career in tour­ism? Import­ant things you should know
• Diverse per­spect­ives on travel & tour­ism and a fairer world
• Diverse per­spect­ives on eco­nom­ic degrowth and tourism
• Diverse per­spect­ives on vis­it­or dispersion

‘It’s a category error of immense proportions!’

Jim Butcher, Reader, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK; Tourism’s Horizon; Politics of Tourism

UK Guard­i­an writer Leo Hickman’s anti-tour­ism tract The Final Call: In Search of the True Cost of Our Hol­i­days likened Tallin’s budget tour­ists to Nazi and Soviet invaders.

Blog­ger Bani Amoor claims that “when we deny [tourism’s] polit­ic­al implic­a­tions, we re-estab­lish it as a tool of colo­ni­al­ity and become com­pli­cit in its oppress­ive chain”. 

Anthro­po­lo­gist Den­nison Nash once implied that “[t]he North Amer­ic­an vaca­tion­er who insists on fast food ham­burgers, cof­fee with his meal, hot run­ning water in his bed­room and the use of the Eng­lish lan­guage” is part of the sys­tem­at­ic dom­in­a­tion of the third world.

Jost Krippendorf’s influ­en­tial The Hol­i­day Makers: the Impacts of Leis­ure Travel regards tour­ism as colo­ni­al “every­where and without exception”.

Human geo­graph­er Steven Flusty, in his 2011 essay The Rime of the Fre­quent Fly­er, argued that tour­ism is “inex­tric­ably rooted in conquest”.

This is faux rad­ic­al pos­tur­ing. It’s quite wrong.

To con­flate imper­i­al­ism or colo­ni­al­ism with tour­ism relies on sur­face descrip­tions of inequal­ity: the wealthy for­eign­er at a private beach in the devel­op­ing world, served by loc­als with little pro­spect of attain­ing the priv­ileges of their guest. 

But this is not imper­i­al­ism or colo­ni­al­ism. It is simply the real­ity of cap­it­al­ist soci­ety: rich people can afford nice things and oth­ers are employed to provide them. 

Such sub­ject­ive asser­tions of imper­i­al dom­in­a­tion, whilst rad­ic­al in tone, rob it of mean­ing and trivi­al­ise the dev­ast­at­ing res­ults of actu­al imper­i­al rivalries.

Over­tour­ism is not com­par­able to the Amrit­sar Massacre. 

Invad­ing armies are neither an equi­val­ent of, nor a meta­phor for, mass tourists. 

It’s a cat­egory error of immense proportions!

Bet­ter than labelling tour­ists as in league with imper­i­al­ism would be for mass tourism’s crit­ics to argue for eco­nom­ic growth and equal­ity, to enable great­er access to leis­ure travel.

Let’s ‘level up’ pleas­ure, not con­demn it!

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International tourism students generally disagree

David Jarratt, Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management, The University of Central Lancashire, UK

Rather than offer­ing a per­son­al view, I would like to share the opin­ions of my students. 

I lec­ture in Tour­ism Man­age­ment at Mas­ter­’s level in the UK and, over the years, I have con­duc­ted sev­er­al ses­sions examin­ing neo-colo­ni­al­ism and depend­ency theory. 

The major­ity of stu­dents on this small course are inter­na­tion­al, usu­ally from Africa and Asia and, to a less­er extent, Europe. 

After out­lining these ideas and talk­ing about the imbal­ance of power in inter­na­tion­al tour­ism, I always asked the stu­dents for their thoughts. We have a discussion. 

So far, no one has fully agreed with the premise that tour­ism is a form of neo-colo­ni­al­ism. Admit­tedly, some stu­dents wer­en’t inter­ested and had no opin­ion. How­ever, more often than not, they did not see it that way. 

Some stu­dents were strongly opposed to the idea. Essen­tially, their argu­ment was that colo­ni­al­ism was some­thing forced upon a coun­try, where­as tour­ism is not. In fact, they argued that tour­ism offers agency. 

With fur­ther dis­cus­sion, we gen­er­ally reached a point where they con­ceded that cer­tain forms of tour­ism provide much more agency than oth­ers, acknow­ledging that exploit­a­tion is pos­sible, and recog­nising that a bot­tom-up approach and reg­u­la­tion are often needed. How­ever, they still did not view inter­na­tion­al tour­ism as neo-colonialism. 

As for depend­ency, stu­dents con­ceded that it could be prob­lem­at­ic and that eco­nom­ic diver­si­fic­a­tion is desir­able, but they believed that tour­ism offered oppor­tun­it­ies in places where they were few and far between. 

I remem­ber one inter­na­tion­al stu­dent who noted that depend­ency on tour­ism is not lim­ited to less developed countries. 

My tour­ism stu­dents’ responses par­tially reflect their aspir­a­tions to work in the industry, of course. Stu­dents on oth­er courses may have dif­fer­ent perspectives. 

I have tried to be as faith­ful as I can to my stu­dents’ views.

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Benefits outweigh problems most of the time

Saverio Francesco Bertolucci, Administrative Assistant, Alcambarcelona, Spain

Travel and hos­pit­al­ity com­pan­ies are a big part of many nations’ eco­nom­ies. Their brands are flour­ish­ing all over the world. 

From my per­son­al point of view, based on my stud­ies and my exper­i­ence in the sec­tor, there is a nat­ur­al interest for com­pan­ies to expand into emer­ging con­texts and become pion­eers of tour­ism growth in insu­lar and remote destinations 

This might sound colo­ni­al­ist since the com­pany imposes itself in a new mar­ket and geo­graph­ic­al area, but in real­ity com­pan­ies always find a bal­ance between their val­ues and the con­text in which they are embedded. 

Some brands, like Six Senses, built a prof­it­able path by open­ing in new des­tin­a­tions and help­ing the com­munity. This is just one of the many examples.

Suc­cess­ful brands are true to their iden­tity but they also con­trib­ute to loc­al socio-eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment. The bene­fits they bring out­weigh prob­lems in the vast major­ity of cases. 

To con­clude, ‘neo­co­lo­ni­al­ism’ is a wrong and purely neg­at­ive word. Expand­ing a busi­ness is not “col­on­ising” and is not about exploit­ing resources, but rather enter­ing a brand new adven­ture and con­trib­ut­ing to soci­et­al change. 

In any case, it is a respons­ib­il­ity of pub­lic author­it­ies to set the con­di­tions for effect­ive and co-cre­at­ive development.

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Not in Rwanda

Greg Bakunzi, Founder, Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development & Red Rocks Rwanda

No, in Rwanda our travel & tour­ism sec­tor does not con­trib­ute to the reim­pos­i­tion of imper­i­al­ist rule, which refers to con­trol by one power over an area or people. 

Travel & tour­ism in our coun­try offers great oppor­tun­it­ies by cre­at­ing jobs, redu­cing poverty and inequal­ity, con­trib­ut­ing to loc­al infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment, and help­ing to con­serve the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment, cul­tur­al assets, and traditions. 

At the same time travel & tour­ism gen­er­ates tax rev­en­ues, per­son­al income growth, enhanced liv­ing stand­ards, and employ­ment opportunities. 

For your inform­a­tion, travel & tour­ism dir­ectly con­trib­uted US$400 mil­lion to Rwanda’s GDP in 2019, before the lock­down caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Now it is regen­er­at­ing and we hope to gain more from tour­ism once this cur­rent glob­al reces­sion comes to an end. 

Travel & tour­ism does not con­trib­ute to imper­i­al­ist rule nor to neo­co­lo­ni­al­ism in Rwanda.

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‘We can break free from the grip of neocolonialism’

Edwin Magio, Community Enterprise Development Manager, Ecotourism Kenya

Neo­co­lo­ni­al­ism in the tour­ism industry is a con­cern­ing issue that I strongly oppose. 

It main­tains unjust power imbal­ances and exploits com­munit­ies eco­nom­ic­ally, leav­ing them mar­gin­al­ised and reli­ant on extern­al forces for progress. 

As a com­munity enter­prise devel­op­ment man­ager at Eco­tour­ism Kenya, I act­ively seek to chal­lenge neo­co­lo­ni­al­ist prac­tices and pro­mote eco­nom­ic inde­pend­ence and com­munity autonomy. 

I firmly believe that tour­ism can be a force for good when it pri­or­it­ises the well-being of loc­al com­munit­ies over profit. 

As such, I am ded­ic­ated to sup­port­ing and empower­ing these com­munit­ies to estab­lish and man­age their own sus­tain­able tour­ism initiatives.

By pro­mot­ing eco­nom­ic inde­pend­ence and com­munity autonomy, we can break free from the grip of neo­co­lo­ni­al­ism and cre­ate a more equit­able and inclus­ive tourism. 

My efforts are geared towards fos­ter­ing a sense of own­er­ship and pride with­in these com­munit­ies, allow­ing them to bene­fit from the fruits of their labour.

I am con­fid­ent that my efforts, com­bined with col­lab­or­a­tion with like-minded indi­vidu­als and organ­isa­tions, will lead to success.

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‘I find leading questions annoying’

K Michael Haywood, Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph, Canada

I find lead­ing ques­tions annoy­ing. Too often they feel coer­cive, and serve to steer respond­ents toward con­firm­ing cer­tain biases, rather than chal­len­ging or fully explor­ing their essence. 

Cer­tainly, I can agree that neo-colo­ni­al­ism remains pre­val­ent in some pop­u­lar, tour­ism-intense des­tin­a­tions, espe­cially those depend­ent on for­eign investment.

It’s dis­con­cert­ing when many seem unable to escape feel­ings of exploit­a­tion and con­trol by for­eign-owned com­pan­ies and are sub­ser­vi­ent to the vis­it­ing crowds; often triggered through racism and class distinctions.

While I know many des­tin­a­tions are doing their best to rec­ti­fy these prob­lems, I still recog­nise a degree of recal­cit­rance espe­cially in regard to cla­ri­fy­ing tourism’s pur­pose and pur­suit of a wide range of more hol­ist­ic, com­munity-wide value-cre­ation oppor­tun­it­ies that are func­tion­ally, socially, cul­tur­ally, and eco­nom­ic­ally life-affirming.

What’s equally both­er­some, if not out­rageous, is the com­pli­city among some developers and gov­ern­ment offi­cials who, through greed, self-aggrand­ise­ment, and unwit­ting mal­feas­ance, per­mit the con­tinu­ation of such dis­par­it­ies; people in pos­i­tions of power who have will­ingly become party to the charade of disin­genu­ous nego­ti­ations, cre­at­ing the con­di­tions for out­comes that favour them­selves and the more priv­ileged; extolling tourism’s bene­fi­cence for those strug­gling to find a new way of life in envir­on­ments that have nev­er yiel­ded a whole­some and pros­per­ous way of life.

Con­trary to the con­clu­sions that neo-colo­ni­al­ism and imper­i­al­ism seem imper­vi­ous to change, it’s time to mount a more force­ful chal­lenge; to work along­side those astute lead­ers intent on truly reima­gin­ing tour­ism.

Indeed, this is the space in which ‘good tour­ism’ has to occupy; the high ground, where tour­ism and its devel­op­ment can be more fully democratised.

Here I draw atten­tion to the need for deep-dive des­tin­a­tion assess­ments that could bene­fit from the ser­i­ous busi­ness of sand­boxes and the ulti­mate desire to tackle a destination’s ‘wicked prob­lems’.

Ed’s note (in his own defence): I’m not sure these are lead­ing ques­tions. Con­front­ing, sure, but ‘lead­ing’?

Big scary words are often thrown around, some­times accus­at­or­ily. It’s import­ant to under­stand what they mean lest their mean­ings drift off in new dir­ec­tions and people start to talk past each oth­er. Based on the defin­i­tions of ‘neo­co­lo­ni­al­ism’ offered in the ques­tions (and linked), the ques­tions are rather dir­ect, no? 

Are the defin­i­tions offered incor­rect? Are there altern­at­ive defin­i­tions now that res­ult in ‘altern­at­ive truths’?

Update: That the con­front­ing ques­tion should be asked at all is pos­sibly what you meant. 🙂 (I took your first lines a little too per­son­ally, which is silly.)

You would know: Are aca­dem­ic careers being built off the back of the question?

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‘Categorising all activities as neocolonialist oversimplifies’

ChatGPT May 24 Version

Travel and tour­ism oper­a­tions and aca­dem­ic pur­suits are not inher­ently a con­tinu­ation or reim­pos­i­tion of imper­i­al­ist rule. 

While his­tor­ic­al examples exist where imper­i­al powers exploited less developed lands, con­tem­por­ary prac­tices vary widely. 

Travel & tour­ism can have pos­it­ive impacts, fos­ter­ing eco­nom­ic growth, cul­tur­al exchange, and employ­ment opportunities. 

How­ever, issues like over­tour­ism and cul­tur­al com­modi­fic­a­tion must be addressed. 

Sim­il­arly, aca­dem­ic pur­suits can con­trib­ute pos­it­ively through know­ledge exchange and sus­tain­able development. 

Eth­ic­al research can empower com­munit­ies and address soci­et­al challenges. 

The neo­co­lo­ni­al­ist label depends on factors like motiv­a­tions, power dynam­ics, and respect for sov­er­eignty and rights. 

Cat­egor­ising all activ­it­ies as neo­co­lo­ni­al­ist over­sim­pli­fies the com­plex landscape. 

Stake­hold­ers must be held account­able for exploit­at­ive practices. 

Respons­ible and sus­tain­able approaches are vital, pri­or­it­ising the well-being and autonomy of loc­al com­munit­ies, pro­mot­ing genu­ine cul­tur­al exchange, and fos­ter­ing equit­able partnerships.

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‘I do not believe that I am a neocolonialist’

Bard [Exper­i­ment]

The rela­tion­ship between tour­ism and imper­i­al­ism is a com­plex one. 

On the one hand, tour­ism can be seen as a form of neo­co­lo­ni­al­ism, in which wealthy tour­ists from developed coun­tries travel to less developed coun­tries and exploit their resources, both nat­ur­al and human. This can lead to envir­on­ment­al degrad­a­tion, cul­tur­al appro­pri­ation, and eco­nom­ic inequality.

On the oth­er hand, tour­ism can also be seen as a force for good, provid­ing much-needed income and employ­ment oppor­tun­it­ies for people in devel­op­ing coun­tries. It can also help to pro­mote cul­tur­al under­stand­ing and exchange.

Ulti­mately, wheth­er or not tour­ism con­trib­utes to a “con­tinu­ation or reim­pos­i­tion of imper­i­al­ist rule” depends on a num­ber of factors, includ­ing the way in which tour­ism is man­aged and the nature of the rela­tion­ship between tour­ists and loc­al people.

As a travel & tour­ism stake­hold­er, I believe that it is import­ant to be aware of the poten­tial neg­at­ive impacts of tour­ism and to take steps to mit­ig­ate them. This includes ensur­ing that tour­ism is sus­tain­able and that loc­al people bene­fit from the eco­nom­ic oppor­tun­it­ies that it creates.

I do not believe that I am a neocolonialist. 

I believe that I am com­mit­ted to using my know­ledge and skills to help pro­mote sus­tain­able tour­ism that bene­fits both tour­ists and loc­al people.

Here are some spe­cif­ic things that I do to mit­ig­ate the neg­at­ive impacts of tourism:

• I sup­port busi­nesses that are com­mit­ted to sus­tain­able tour­ism practices.
• I edu­cate myself about the cul­tures of the places I visit.
• I try to inter­act with loc­al people in a respect­ful and mean­ing­ful way.
• I avoid sup­port­ing busi­nesses that exploit loc­al people or the environment.

I believe that it is pos­sible to engage in tour­ism in a way that is eth­ic­al and responsible. 

I am com­mit­ted to doing my part to make that happen.

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What do you think? 

In a com­ment below share your own thoughts on tour­ism and neo­co­lo­ni­al­ism. (After sign­ing in you will need to refresh the page to see the com­ments section.) 

Or write a “GT” Insight. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog wel­comes diversity of opin­ion and per­spect­ive about travel & tour­ism, because travel & tour­ism is everyone’s business.

“GT” is where free thought travels.

Fea­tured image (top of post): AI-gen­er­ated “sur­real­ist rep­res­ent­a­tion of tour­ism as a neo­co­lo­ni­al­ist enter­prise” by DALL-E‑2.