Tourism and the many faces of power

The introduction to this book in Chapter 1 started by outlining how media commentators have made connections between tourism, terrorism and those who appear to wield power in global geopolitics. Recently, media and human rights reports have also illustrated the apparent powerlessness in the lives of some individuals involved in tourism. One of the effects of the 2004 tsunami in southern and Southeast Asia was to destroy the ‘economic’ spaces on and near to beaches used by locally owned businesses and independent operators. A report compiled by ActionAid International, the People’s Movement for Human Rights Education and Habitat International Coalition was presented to the United Nations in February 2006 and reveals that despite the official emphasis on rebuilding, many individuals now find they are denied access to these spaces or the funding support to re-establish their tourism enterprises, while others with financial resources, political influence and claims to the land will determine their future use (ActionAid International 2006; Weaver 2006). * Chapter 12