One stone, two birds: harnessing interfaith tourism for peacebuilding and socio-economic development

Abstract

This study examines the importance of interfaith tourism to peace and socio-economic development and assesses factors that influence interfaith tourism vis-à-vis its role in peacebuilding and socio-economic development. The researcher adopted an exploratory research design and conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews and media analysis. The findings revealed that interfaith tourism constitutes a powerful social force that can reinforce peace and socio-economic development. However, challenges related to low tourism development, poor engagement, and collaboration among tourism stakeholders limit interfaith tourism benefits. This research contributes to the scarce literature concerning the socio-political aspects of tourism and the importance of interfaith tourism for peace and local development. It is argued that interfaith tourism supports the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 16 in maintaining peace and social justice in developing nations like Africa. Practically, the findings benefit policymakers and tourism stakeholders in nurturing peace, inclusive societies, and unanimity using interfaith tourism development.

KEYWORDS:

• Interfaith tourism
• peacebuilding
• UN SDG16
• religious tourism
• Africa
• Ethiopia

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Institute of International Business and Governance, established with the substantial support of a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (UGC/IDS16/17), for its support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dagnachew Leta Senbeto

Dagnachew Leta Senbeto is a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute of International Business and Governance of Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration at The Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. His main research concern tourism impacts, crisis, workforce, and sustainability issues in tourism and hospitality (E-mail: [email protected]).