The global compact: The conservative politics of international tourism

In response to any distributive outcome, politics asks, “who benefits?” and its corollary, “who loses?” Tourism, the world's largest industry, must have a politics; its presence changes the distribution of power and wealth, and promotes some values and groups over others. Yet tourism is deeply depoliticized. A few key characteristics of tourism, combined with basic aspects of the international system, create tendencies and patterns at three levels: the local, the national, and the international. The industry's elasticity means that quantitative projections are less helpful in understanding what politics is, and for identifying prospective winners and losers, than are qualitative sketches outlining how power relationships are elided in different spheres. This essay considers the current state of international tourism, and the infrastructure, national and international, that support and guide it, emphasizing the ideas and practices that keep politics out, and arguing that tourism is to a considerable degree about elites justifying, or mystifying, the status quo, and destinations playing into those expectations.