Tourist Landscapes: Environment, Society and Tourism
Seminar by Dr. Anna Antonova
20.10.2021 – 09.02.2022
Despite its current decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global tourist industry remains a key power reshaping landscapes and communities worldwide. For travelers, tourism can define their relationship to the environment. For destinations, the industry can create and sustain vital livelihoods. Yet it also has immense impacts on ecosystems and societies around the world. In this seminar, we will take a critical look at the societal and environmental issues arising from a range of tourist practices.
We will think about various modes of tourism: from globe trotters, skiing, and beach holidays to dark tourism, wildlife watching, and ecotourism. Considering case studies from around the world, we will explore a range of issues including: the transformations experienced by the environments, cultures, and communities that support tourism; the relationships between different forms of privilege and access to nature via tourism; or the control and commodification of landscapes, cultural heritage, and even disaster. Finally, we will discuss the way that the pandemic has brought these issues to light and debate whether and how the industry could change in the future.