This paper interrogates the ideas of 'sustained' and 'inclusive' growth that are intrinsic to one of three UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 8-Decent Work and Growth) adopted by the UN World Tourism Organisation's (UNWTO) 2030 sustainable tourism agenda. It provides a Marxian-inspired political economy critique of the UNWTO's embrace of SDG8 and highlights the blind spot within the UNWTO's inclusive growth-led SDG agenda with respect to questions of equity and social justice. The paper contends that the UNWTO's SDG-led agenda is contradicted by the logics of growth, competitiveness and profit-making that drive the continued expansion and development of tourism. Rather than addressing the structural injustices that entrench inequalities and reproduce exploitative labour practices, the notion of sustained and inclusive growth reinforces the primacy of capital and market notions of justice and continues to perpetuate a growth driven tourism development model. The paper contributes to a critical theorization of sustainable tourism and offers an informed critique of the current political agenda for sustainable tourism and its potential outcomes.
This paper interrogates the ideas of 'sustained' and 'inclusive' growth that are intrinsic to one of three UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 8 -Decent Work and Growth) adopted by the UN World Tourism Organisation's (UNWTO) 2030 sustainable tourism agenda. It provides a Marxian-inspired political economy critique of the UNWTO's embrace of SDG8 and highlights the blind spot within the UNWTO's inclusive growth-led SDG agenda with respect to questions of equity and social justice. The paper contends that the UNWTO's SDG-led agenda is contradicted by the logics of growth, competitiveness and profit-making that drive the continued expansion and development of tourism. Rather than addressing the structural injustices that entrench inequalities and reproduce exploitative labour practices, the notion of sustained and inclusive growth reinforces the primacy of capital and market notions of justice and continues to perpetuate a growth driven tourism development model. The paper contributes to a critical theorization of sustainable tourism and offers an informed critique of the current political agenda for sustainable tourism and its potential outcomes.
concepts: 'multi-stakeholder responsibility', and 'effective and affective reach'. Because of its global scope and complexity, no single partner can solve the problem of CST on its own, warranting the organisation of responsibility in a multi-stakeholder setting. This responsibility subsequently needs to be translated into action and commitment reaching out to the 'sites of crime', requiring both protocols (effective reach) and affinity (affective reach). Only once these are realised can the fight against CST be fully effective throughout the global tourism chain. Our core argument is that TCPC's limited impact can be attributed to what Allen (2016) describes as the 'distortion' of reach, effectively but notably affectively. To illustrate this distortion, we zoom in onto three cases: Thailand, the Dominican Republic and The Gambia.
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