Silenced and Unheard Voices: Human Rights in Tourism

Human rights as a moral framework for trade and tourism at a destination can become deprioritised in favour of economic and social development from tourism activity (McCabe & Diekmann, 2015). Indeed, tourism research that focusses on human rights has been described as minimal (Higgins-Desbiolles & Whyte, 2015).

There appear to be two streams of research exploring human rights in tourism. One focusses on single issues that often stem from power imbalances, and include women’s rights (Jeffrey, 2018), LGBTQI+ rights (e.g., Vorobjovas-Pinta & Hardy, 2021), workers’ rights (e.g., Shelley, Ooi, & Denny, 2020), indigenous rights (e.g., Devine & Ojeda, 2017), orphanage tourism (e.g., Guiney & Mostafanezhad, 2015), and sex tourism (e.g., Jeffreys, 1999). The second stream explores the role that tourism plays as a catalyst for social justice and the attainment of human rights (Hudson, 2007). There are areas that have been severely neglected. For example, tourists’ perceptions of human rights abuse such as torture, and the agency that tourist consumers have in boycotting travel to countries with poor human rights records.

The purpose of this session is to bring together scholars who focus on human rights in tourism. Presentations will explore marginal and less heard perspectives of those who do not often participate in public conversations around tourism. We also invite discussion on how tourists engage with information about human rights when considering destinations and while travelling. Papers exploring human rights issues in the tourism industry (e.g., sex work, exploitation, modern-day slavery) are also welcome.