ABSTRACT
Health research on tourism has expanded over the past two decades, focusing on understanding how the social, economic, and political configuration of tourism zones might contribute to health vulnerabilities among the diverse populations that interact in these areas. While there are few studies of HIV and drug use interactions in the region, research has indicated that these two outcomes are often interwoven in tourism zones, potentially producing ‘syndemics’ of HIV infection and problematic drug use. One framework that has been used in public health research on tourism is one that we refer to as touristic escapism or situational disinhibition that may be heightened for some tourists while on vacation, potentially leading to the abandonment of normative constraints on behaviour and contributing to health risks such as unprotected sex or binge drinking. In this article, we draw upon tourism theory and ethnographic research with male tourism workers employed in two popular tourist areas of the Dominican Republic to explore whether touristic escapism offers insights in understanding health vulnerabilities within tourism spaces.
Acknowledgments
We want to thank the participants of our research project who shared with us their experiences and hopes for a better life in the Dominican Republic. We also want to thank our field collaborators, Francis Taylor (may you rest in peace), Antonio de Moya (may you rest in peace), Begoña Gómez, Erika Suero, Melissa Dotel, and Doña Leda Herasme. In addition, we want to thank the following colleagues that contributed in the coding and analysis of the data: José Eduardo Velázquez, Dali Santos, Carolina Martinez, Nayibe Tavares, Adrian Puello, Karina Livingston, Carolyn Parker, Vanesa Leon, David Robles, Claudia Uribe, Melisa Scott, Jack Vertovec, and Maria Baylon. Additionally, we want to thank the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (KG-LACC) for all the administrative support and accommodations in the Center.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 Politur was replaced by CESTUR. Many interviewees continue to use the former name.