Globalization, Global Crises and Tourism

Abstract

This article focuses on the consequences of the contemporary global crises on the global, and, more specifically, the Asian tourism system. The effects of the economic slow-down in Western countries on the rate of growth and the shape of the global tourism system are discussed. From a broader perspective, the possible implications for tourism of the growing barriers to globalized flows and of the current protests against the prevailing Western politico- economic policies, as well as of the emergent anti-consumerist movements, are scrutinized. In conclusion, the need to re-think some long-range tourism policies in non-Western, particularly Asian, countries is stressed.

Keywords:

• globalization
• global crises
• mobilities
• global tourism system
• Asian tourism
• anti-consumerism