Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
destinations - unlike other forms of commodity production which frequently distance or
shield consumers from seeing how goods are made. Women's labour is frequently exploited
for cleaning and serving; but unlike the textiles trade or electronics assembly, in tourism
worker conditions are at best only partially hidden from tourists, and usually are quite visible
(in hotels, bars, planes) (McNeill, 2008). The preponderance of guilt and shame amongst
tourists, as common emotional responses to travel, attests to this (Waitt
et al.
, 2007). At one
level, the tourist gaze involves encounters between producers and consumers that make more
transparent the politics of capitalism.
Having said this, much remains concealed, and tourism encounters are packaged, with
worker decorum frequently stage-managed for tourist consumption. This is particularly so in
cultural tourism, which commodifi es ethnic difference and vernacular culture to bring order
and predictability (Cuthill, 2007). As Robinson (2001: 54) reminds us, few tourists seek total
immersion in a different culture. Instead, 'the tourist seeks safe glimpses of cultural differ-
ence, and can often be satisfi ed with simulacra' (see Hottola,
Chapter 18
on touristic
metaspaces and also Wilson and Richards, 2008 on the notion of 'suspension'). For Doorne
et al.
(2003: 1), 'cultural identities are appropriated, constructed and traded through and
around material objects of touristic exchange'. Tourism commodifi es place, guiding tourists'
movements and controlling that which they are drawn to gaze upon. Indeed, Britton (1991:
452) argued that travelling was 'not free time in any absolute sense, but is subject to rules of
permissible forms and sanctioned behaviour'. Tourism's apparently 'free' or spontaneous
encounters are regulated and a source of profi t, even when, in the case of the backpacker scene
in Southeast Asia, a sense of being 'off the beaten track' prevails (Lloyd, 2006). Given this, it
is entirely understandable that in academia and activist circles the tourist gaze has been
conceived as another means of colonialism or imperialism (Robinson, 2001; Keen and Tucker,
Chapter 12
in this volume), especially when historical injustices against indigenous and
minority groups are glossed over in attempts to maximise experiential appeal for tourists
(Muzaini
et al.
, 2007).
Towards ethical encounters
One response has been the emergence of an ethical tourism industry, 'against a background
of environmental ethics and global political economy' (Macbeth, 2005: 962). In parallel to
the fair trade movement, enterprises can now badge themselves as 'ethical' in terms of envi-
ronmental standards, work practices and cultural sensitivity. There are now even whole
guidebooks, in the style of
Lonely Planet
or
Time Out
, dedicated to ethical tourism globally
(e.g. Pattullo and Minelli, 2006). Where ethical tourism succeeds most is in foregrounding
concerns of justice (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2008), in improvements to living and working
conditions, clarifying the means of tourism production and raising awareness of terrible prac-
tices elsewhere - or in the case of travel to participate in active conservation programmes, to
catalyse positive improvements in biodiversity (Broad and Jenkins, 2008). Frequently
community-owned and supported through non-profi t organisations, ethical tourism enter-
prises promise honesty and integrity, and provide hope of an alternative economy through
which ethical/unethical practices are brought into sharper relief (Gibson-Graham and
Cameron, 2007). Ethical tourism enterprises pursue a philosophical commitment to 'move
beyond the almost exclusive pursuit of industry profi ts and place social, cultural and ecolog-
ical value on local environments and economies' (Wearing
et al.
, 2005: 424).
Yet a distinction is worthy between attempts to insert more ethical enterprises into the
superstructure of the tourism industry, and what an ethics of tourism might encompass in the
