The End of Tourism as We Know It: Neoliberalism, Thana-Capitalism, and Touring

The End of Tourism as We Know It: Neoliberalism, Thana-Capitalism, and Touring

Maximiliano Emanuel Korstanje, Babu George
Copyright: © 2019 |Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-6983-1.ch002
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Abstract

The present chapter posits an interesting discussion revolving around the term Thana Capitalism, which was originally formulated in earlier works. Originally formulated to serve as an opposite alternative against neo-pragmatism, neoliberalism toyed with the belief that the world can be united through the consumption and free trade. During 80s and 90s decades, the theory of development adopted tourism as an efficient instrument to struggle with poverty. Under the auspices of neoliberalism, modern tourism not only paved the ways for an “Kantian eternal peace,” but also conducted a much deeper process of democratization beyond the borders of Western civilization. After the recent, stock market crisis in 2008, tourism not only was placed in jeopardy by the advance of jihadist terrorism but mutated towards more morbid forms of consumption, which made from human suffering as a tantalizing criterion of attraction. Thana-Tourism, War tourism, Dark Tourism or slum tourism are indicators that the society is changing towards new horizons.
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Introduction

Neoliberalism is the re-embodiment of the 19th-century ideals associated with the laissez-faire economic liberalism. By definition it is neo, meaning it has to keep renewing and reinventing its meaning in accordance with the changing times. Neoliberalism institutionalized the original ideas and branded them with terms like deregulation, privatization, free trade, etc. Classical liberalist economists would not have approved corporations, despite recognizing the downside of leaving everything to the “invisible hand”. They did not anticipate some higher-level authorities (e.g. shareholders) determining the fate of employees in the workplace as the face of liberalism in the future.

Just as neoliberalism meant the curtailment of individual freedom for the elites and the corporations controlled by them, neoliberal forms of tourism have brought in similar changes. It envisages “environmental bubbles,” within the protective boundaries of which, tourists can experience host cultures. It also created classes of people with different degrees and kinds of licenses to the common property resources such as mountains, forests, and beach sides. Classical liberalists would have considered such resources available for the free pursuit of leisure for everyone. The spirit of tourism is liberal, but its conduct in our times is neoliberal.

The shift from liberal philosophies to neoliberal forms of tourism is driven at least partly by the ideology of Thana Capitalism. Death, destruction, and doomsday projections drive our society and its aspirations (Korstanje & George, 2012). The birth of various neoliberal forms of tourism could be seen in the light of this. This paper examines the complex interlinkages between neoliberalism, Thana Capitalism, and tourism. The present chapter interrogates on the evolution of neoliberalism and the rise of emergent morbid forms of consumption, which left behind the classic tourism products. The thesis authors hold here is that tourism, as we know, is changing towards new horizons and forms.

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