Human Rights, Travellers and Tourism: Towards a Research Agenda for Understanding Tourists’ Perceptions of Human Rights Abuses

Tourism is a manifestation of the globalised world that we now live in, and it intertwines with the notions of human rights on a multitude of levels. However, tourism research that focusses on human rights is fragmented and minimal (Higgins-Desbiolles and Powys Whyte, 2015). While significant attention has been given to the role that tourism may play as a catalyst for social justice and the attainment of human rights and issues such as women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights, workers’ rights and indigenous rights, the singularity of the issues in these studies has been critiqued. What appears to be lacking is research that focusses on tourists’ perceptions of human rights abuses. Higgins-Desbiolles and Powys Whyte (2015) argue that the neoliberal notion of tourism as an industry has placed undue pressure on communities, where economic growth is put before wellbeing, and ignores issues of displacement and commodification of culture. Similarly, Burns (1999) argues that that neoliberal ideology of tourism puts the industry, rather than development, first. Arguably, a significant gap exists pertaining to the dissonance that occurs between tourism and human rights abuses. In particular, little is known as to why tourists do - and do not- react to human right abuses when making travel choices.

In this presentation three case studies will be presented that unpack this issue. We will explore why tourists’ reactions to abuses of human rights are so layered, often contradictory, and nuanced. Five possible reactions will be presented: ignorance, denial, gaze, care, and boycott. Our goal is to review the literature on the intersection of human rights abuses and travel choices and develop a research agenda for understanding tourists’ perceptions of these issues.