Justice Tourism and Alternative Globalisation

Abstract

Because of the negative impacts of capitalist globalisation, some commentators are anticipating an alternative form of globalisation. This paper examines the potential of alternative tourisms to be catalysts for more just and sustainable forms of globalisation. While it is argued that various forms of alternative tourism, including ecotourism, sustainability, peace through tourism, and pro-poor tourism have been co-opted by a defensive tourism industry in the face of widespread criticism and an active anti-capitalist globalisation movement, it is suggested that the niche of justice tourism provides a singular model of difference. Justice tourism is a relatively new and under-analysed phenomenon that seeks not only to reform the inequities and damages of contemporary tourism, but also to chart a path to a more just global order. An examination of justice tourism indicates that its 'products and services', its structures and its agendas are radically different from the other segments of the alternative tourism phenomenon. In particular, the formation of the Tourism Interventions Group, with its collaboration with the social justice movement meeting under the auspices of the World Social Forum, shows that justice tourism aims for a fundamental transformation of the contemporary global order.