Covid makes it clearer than ever that tourism is colonialism. See Tulum.

Tourism is colonialism & quite literally developed as a colonial enterprise. “Travel” does not necessarily equal “tourism” but it too often does, particularly for those of us in the Global North. The fact that there are countries dependent on tourism is a legacy of colonialism.

Reading is fundamental. Twitter can be a great place to engage & learn. Be respectful. Some of you feel very comfortable taking a disrespectful tone with Black women online. (Good thing I keep the goon in me tucked away.)

I happen to write and teach about colonialism and neo-colonialism. I’ll share some resources for understanding the relationship between tourism & colonialism/neo-colonialism below:

•Skwiot, The Purposes of Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Cuba and Hawaiʻi
•Amor, “The Heart of Whiteness: On Spiritual Tourism and the Colonization of Ayahuasca” 
•Zytnicki, “‘Making Algeria Pleasant’: Tourism and Colonization in Algeria from the 1870s to 1962”

•Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place
•Taylor, To Hell With Paradise: A History Of The Jamaican Tourist Industry 
•Miller-Davenport, Gateway State: Hawai‘i & the Cultural Transformation of American Empire
•Deckard, Paradise Discourse, Imperialism, and Globalization: Exploiting Eden

•Bohls & Duncan, Travel Writing, 1700-1830: An Anthology
•Martin, “The United Fruit Company's tourist business and the creation of the ‘Golden Caribbean’, 1899-1940”
•Kempadoo, Sun, Sex, and Gold: Tourism and Sex Work in the Caribbean
And so much more...

Bani Amor has really many excellent articles on decolonizing travel. Here is one of them: https://medium.com/@bani_amor/getting-real-about-decolonizing-travel-culture-a94e71b57dc8

And another by Amor, a foremost writer and thinker on the subject of decolonizing travel: https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/fragility-western-traveler

Ruiz, Americans in the Treasure House: Travel to Porfirian Mexico and the Cultural Politics of Empire https://twitter.com/thebryreed/status/1339296067695890435

Aikau & Vicuña Gonzalez, Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai’i https://twitter.com/palmtreesngz/status/1339351930506604544