Tourism and Society: Critical Issues and New Perspectives

Open session.

Can war and tourism coexist? In the collective imagination and in our symbolic systems, the sphere of leisure is difficult to reconcile with that of suffering. Yet history—and even contemporary events—show that these apparently distant dimensions can coexist and even become intertwined. The turbulent times in which we live, marked by wars, terrorism, economic instability, and new forms of insecurity, have only reinforced this coexistence.

This gives rise to a series of paradoxical phenomena that, on the one hand, reveal the complexity of the current historical phase—characterized by a transition beyond postmodernity, the consolidation of new social, economic, and cultural arrangements, and the reconfiguration of global geopolitical orders. On the other hand, they expose the ambiguities inherent in tourism itself: a practice historically rooted in forms of violence, inequality, and asymmetrical power relations; yet also one of the highest expressions of creativity, individual freedom, cosmopolitanism, and intercultural learning.

As a result, new practices and mechanisms emerge that connect violence and pleasure, war and tourism in different ways.

This session invites contributions that critically explore the complex and often contradictory relationships between tourism, war, conflict, violence, memory, media representations, tourist and urban policies. By examining these intersections, the session aims to advance sociological understandings of tourism in an era increasingly shaped by uncertainty, fragmentation, and geopolitical tensions.