Can Events Facilitate Intercultural Understanding?

The founding philosophy of many cultural events established after the Second World War was to enhance the dynamics of peace through supporting and developing multicultural understanding. Over 50 years after their establishment, this chapter investigates the potential of such iconic events to achieve this aim and contribute to the concept of peace through tourism, based on a longitudinal ethnographic case study of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. The results show that this aim can be achieved by such events if they provide enough time and space for participants (performers and audiences) to interact. However, the study also identifies current cultural, political, and fiscal challenges in providing these temporal and physical spaces.

Peace

On 25 September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an Agenda for Sustainable Development establishing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030, on which states, civil society, and the private sector are called to contribute. In this context, tourism, which is based on billions of encounters between people of diverse cultural backgrounds, is hailed as the industry that can foster tolerance and multicultural and interfaith understanding, laying the groundwork for more peaceful societies. This chapter critically analyses the current discourse on tourism and peace, exploring opportunities and limitations. The authors affirm the urgency for a more complex approach by informing the debate with concepts, theories, and ideas coming from areas different than tourism (cultural anthropology, history, cultural heritage, cultural diplomacy, peace and conflict studies, peace education and sustainability science). The authors focus mainly on the role of cultural heritage and its management as the central hinge in the association between tourism and peace.

Factors Affecting the Impact of Tourism on Attitude Change

Tourism plays a vital role in getting to know and understand each other. In this regard, the main purpose of this research chapter is to understand the relationship between tourism and attitude change and the factors affecting this relationship. Firstly, the role of tourism in changing attitudes is discussed within the framework of Allport's Contact Hypothesis, and then qualitative research results are given. The phenomenology research design was used in the research, and the interview method was preferred in obtaining data. Six open-ended questions were asked to 12 tourists, who came to Şırnak, determined by the purposeful sampling method, with a semi-structured interview form. The answers given by the participants were determined by the descriptive analysis method. The research reveals that tourism is critical in eliminating problems between societies, opening social communication channels, reducing prejudices, and making existing attitudes more positive.

Tourism as an Agent of Peace and Reconciliation in Cross-Strait Relations

There is a non-violent conflict over Taiwan's sovereignty, between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). For PRC, this division cannot persist forever and does not exclude a possible military solution. While political divisions remain, the population on both sides of the strait interact, existing sociocultural and economic dynamics. These are usually interpreted as people-to-people dynamics, in which individuals act as peace agents or citizen diplomats. Tourism is a good example of this phenomenon, considering the increasing visitor flows between both sides. This dynamism sometimes pressures the political power to transform the conflict, but also acts as a throwing weapon in times of hostility. After 2016, the political landscape in Taiwan changed, and tourism became one of the sectors involved in political tensions. This chapter explores several dimensions of tourism in this conflict, particularly its role in peace and reconciliation between Mainland China and Taiwan, but also its vulnerabilities regarding high-level bilateral relations.

Post-War Tourism in the Reconciliation Process of New Zealand Vietnam War Veterans

Tourism has the potential to act as a positive force in reconciliation efforts between countries. The basis of tourism in facilitating reconciliation is premised on people coming into contact with one another in non-adversarial settings, which support a higher probability that positive effects can result from this contact. The investigation on post-war tourism and its role in moving the reconciliation process forward has been limited. Since the Vietnam War ended, there has been a growing phenomenon of Vietnam War veterans returning to visit Vietnam. This chapter examines the impact of New Zealand Vietnam veterans' visits to post-war Vietnam on the reconciliation process with the Vietnamese and with self.

The Contribution of Tourism to Peacebuilding Processes

The concern for environmental protection within an increasingly globalised international system has led to the planning of Transfrontier Conservation Areas, among which Peace Parks aim to achieve or maintain peace across borders. Based on the growing importance that tourism practice has for the sustainability of Peace Parks, this chapter reflects on how the tourism activity developed within Peace Parks can contribute to peacebuilding processes. This dynamic is addressed by analysing a case study, focused on the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. It shows that tourism has the potential to positively contribute to sustainability, creating better living conditions for the local population and, consequently, promoting the achievement of peace. However, it also shows that tourism may have the opposite effect if national interests dominate, if there is insufficient consultation of local communities' interests or if sensitive border and land-use issues are not overcome.

Prospects of Tourism for Peace

Over the years, philosophers have debated the problem of war and peace. Is violence inherently enrooted in our minds? Or simply are we educated in a violent society? Is war a social malady to be eradicated or part of our nature? The myth of Cain and Abel gives some hints on this, but, of course, it does not suffice to explain the complexity of the conflict in the societal order. Humans often are slaves of negative emotions such as rage, fear, greed, and envy. Nonetheless, as Immanuel Kant imagined, a durable and perpetual peace can be internationally achieved, where a tacit agreement is convened among nations. In so doing, they should share a common-grounded constitution and be subject to the law of federation. The figure of hospitality is vital to weave an international pact of cooperation and non-aggression. Here one might question if tourism is part of this panacea, as Kant in his days envisaged.

Genetic Tourism

This chapter introduces the birth of a new tourism modality, genetic tourism, by comparing it with genealogical tourism. Once this comparison was carried out, it was possible to determine the characteristics of genetic tourism and to study its possible positive effects concerning cultural sensitivity and transculturality, related to multicultural understanding and peacebuilding. The exploratory study was done by analysing travel blogs and online news related to genetic tourism, which results were used to identify a series of topics related to cultural sensitivity and transculturality. Among these topics, the author highlights the predisposition of the studied subjects to define themselves as citizens of the world, enabling people-to-people interactions and the belief of a positive relationship between genetic tourism, tolerance, cultural ethnorelativism, and reductions of negative stereotypes.

Hostels in Hostile Territory

This chapter looks at the role youth hostels play in challenging some of the destructive narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian context, narratives revolving around Othering, and demonisation of the Other. To understand the role of hostels in this regard, the authors use the concept of transformative dialogue to demonstrate how hostels assist in the formation of partnerships between previously hostile groups, and also how hostels provide a tourism forum for self-expression and exposure to divergent narratives of space. The chapter is a comparative case study using qualitative data gathered at 14 hostels over a period of six years. The findings of the chapter stress the remarkable achievement of youth hostels in the region in challenging hegemonic discourses of separation and abjection, despite the enormous difficulty in doing so.

EU Tourism Contributing to Peace and Unity?

This chapter analyses the EU tourism policy regarding tourism sensitive to peace. It relies on the medieval, modern, and contemporary enlightenment philosophy of building a lasting peace in Europe, which were foundational ideas of European integration and keep being a reflex in its current values. Although the EU has been witnessing the longest period of this territory with peace, it is not taken for granted, and Euroscepticism and nationalism have been growing in Europe. The chapter assesses the conception of tourism as an intervening policy for the EU to contain nationalism, intolerance, and state conflict in Europe, using the theoretical framework of tourism sensitive to peace. It is concluded that Europe lacks an immaterial vision for tourism, as it is confined to the market functionality.