Unveiling the failure of tourism as industry of peace: bridging the gap between Academic Discourse and Global Reality. Paving the way to Post-Tourism

This chapter aims to prompt the reader to reflect on the factual fading of the concept of tourism as an industry of peace and as a vehicle for peace by nature. The disparity between what academia advocates regarding tourism's potential contribution to a better world clashes daily with the global effects of tourism. Not only does tourism fail to reduce conflicts, but it sometimes generates new ones. The studies conducted on over-tourism, the terribly negative effects of voluntourism on children in developing countries, the practice of tourism as a new form of colonialism, are just few of the many alarms which remains ignored. Unfortunately, the list is long, and serious considerations must be made to bring academics to more realistic positions on one hand, and to encourage the industry to dream and implement possible alternatives on the other. The path towards the dawn of post-tourism, charting a course towards a more equitable and sustainable future for global travel, is here advocated.