It is of course hard to predict what a tourism world would look like if it ran completely on neoliberal principles. Would multinational corporations take over everything and destroy environment and cultures in the process, because they would continue to be seen as merely an “externality”? Or would the mystical moment of market self-regulation appear at some point to bring balance to the global tourism economy?
Either way, I imagine a world that is completely commodified, where every experience has to be paid for, no matter where one would go. This would most likely impact those spaces the most that are currently still accessible to the public and would thus be closely tied to land use management and nature-based tourism. National Parks for example might all be privatized and run for profit – whether that would mean a continued conservation of nature for the sake of tourism or more detrimental resource extraction in the pursuit of higher revenue is hard to say. Since there would be no governmental regulations around the use of natural spaces, the sole reliance on self-imposed corporate responsibility may very well fail in that regard. Moreover, the small firms that often operate within the tourism sector and especially in ecotourism, would probably all disappear, with multinational conglomerates dominating the market.
The human element of tourism might also suffer greatly under a purely neoliberal rule. When every interaction has a price tag and cultures are commodified completely, travel would lack the small, unexpected moments of human connection that are usually the whole reason why lots of us step out of the door in the first place. Instead, we might only get the palatable version of cultural immersion that elicits the greatest, most calculated response in customers – whatever representation suits their taste the best.
Thinking about this program and the classes that I have chosen in the upper level so far, I see a lot of small-scale resistance to the ideals of neoliberalism. Out of personal interest, I tend to stay away from marketing or product development classes – even though I absolutely understand their necessity. Instead, I have found that my classes on sustainable tourism development or land use management emphasize the inclusion of local communities and Indigenous nations in decision making processes, and the importance of governmental policies to do so. They further focus on the importance of the natural environment and the role tourism plays in upholding and enforcing sustainable practices. However, I do think that the program can be ideologically tailored towards stronger market based and laissez faire approaches as well – it depends on where any student’s interests lie and which direction they choose in their academic path.