The Variety of Mobilities: Tourism, Migration, and Displacement

Tourism, Forced Migration and Futures: Rethinking Mobility, Inclusion and Destination Development in Turbulent Times

Tourism and migration are among the most significant forms of human mobility shaping contemporary societies. Yet despite their growing interconnectedness, they are often studied and governed as separate fields. Tourism is commonly associated with leisure, economic development, and voluntary mobility, while migration is frequently framed through the lenses of labour markets, integration, security, or humanitarian concerns. In practice, however, the boundaries between tourism, migration, displacement, and mobility are increasingly blurred.

This session invites contributions that explore the diverse intersections between tourism and migration. Particular attention will be given to how destinations, tourism businesses, policymakers, and communities respond to growing mobility flows shaped by labour migration, forced displacement, demographic change, climate impacts, political instability, and transnational networks.

We welcome conceptual, empirical, and methodological contributions from different geographical contexts and disciplinary perspectives. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: migrant labour in tourism; tourism and refugee inclusion; migrant entrepreneurship; tourism as a tool for social integration; migration and destination governance; diaspora and VFR tourism; climate-induced mobility; migrant-led tourism initiatives; heritage, identity and belonging; decolonial and justice-oriented approaches; mobility inequalities; and the role of tourism in fostering social cohesion or reproducing exclusion.

By bringing together scholars working across tourism, migration, mobility studies, geography, sociology, anthropology, and development studies, the session aims to advance a more integrated understanding of tourism and migration.

Keywords: tourism and migration; mobilities; forced migration; migrant labour; inclusion; destination development; mobility justice