Tourism and anarchism

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to contribute to the application of political philosophies to the tourism domain. There has been a growing critique of the dominance of neoliberal theories within the tourism sector and tourism literature. Nevertheless, the present paper argues that engagement with full range of political philosophies would benefit tourism research. The application of various political philosophies, such as anarchism, may assist the development of new research areas within critical tourism studies and advance debates on contemporary issues of poverty, inequality, injustice and natural degradation. Anarchism has been rarely mentioned in tourism studies; however, its focus on justice, freedom and solidarity as well as its scepticism towards both the government and the corporations may contribute to various streams of tourism research, as the present paper indicates. Considering the revival of interest in anarchism in related disciplines, such as geography, the present paper constructs a research agenda based on the adoption of anarchism as a political philosophy.

KEYWORDS:

• Anarchism
• politics
• political philosophy
• critical tourism studies
• alternative tourism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Denis Tolkach is an Assistant Professor in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prior to moving to Hong Kong he has undertaken teaching and research in Australia and Timor-Leste. Dr Tolkach’s research interests include sustainable tourism development and tourism trends.

ORCID

Denis Tolkach http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8820-7764