Editorial: navigating the destination of the future

ABSTRACT

This editorial for the Special Issue on “Navigating the destination of the future” seeks to provide an overview of the six (6) contributions selected from the 4th Caribbean International Tourism Conference, 11–13 December 2019 Barbados. These papers cover a range of topical issues from air services route development to education for tourism. The common thread running through them is their relevance for geographically small destinations, particularly, though not exclusively, in the Caribbean region. This editorial contextualizes these contributions in terms of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, which has been particularly devastating for the travel and tourism industry. It concludes by suggesting that while the future for travel and tourism in geographically small destinations is uncertain, one answer must lie in the privileging of indigenous voices.

KEYWORDS:

• Small destinations
• overtourism
• alternative tourism
• tourism impacts
• caribbean

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. While Guyana is not an island but a country located in the northeastern section of South America, it is considered to be part of the “mainland” Caribbean due to its historical, cultural and political links with the islands of the Anglophone Caribbean and it is also here that the headquarters of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) is located. Due to its history of British colonialism, it is English speaking thus making it unique in South America.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Donna Chambers

Donna Chambers is Professor of Tourism at the University of Sunderland, UK. Her research interests lie in how we represent peoples and places in tourism using postcolonial and decolonial theories; and the intersection between gender and race drawing on critical race theory and Black feminism.