Book chapter
Tourism boycotts and the struggle for justice: ethics, absence, and the politics of solidarity
A Research Agenda for Just Tourism Futures, pp 199-210
17 Mar 2026
Abstract
Tourism boycotts are increasingly used as instruments of resistance against perceived injustice in destinations, businesses, and state-linked industries. This chapter examines the political and ethical claims behind such boycotts through the frameworks of political consumerism and moral economy. It asks whether tourism boycotts contribute to social justice or whether they deepen existing inequalities by shifting economic harm onto already precarious groups. With reference to the case of Myanmar after the 2021 military coup and other boycott campaigns, the chapter examines how such campaigns began, how international tourists responded to them, and how local tourism workers expressed uncertainty and mixed feelings. It challenges the belief that consumer refusal consistently leads to political change, and looks at how moral responsibility is shared, shifted, and debated in transnational tourism. Although tourism boycotts are often presented as acts of solidarity, they are usually shaped by selective attention, the outsourcing of moral judgment, and limited engagement. These tendencies raise serious questions about who has the right to call for a boycott, who bears its effects, and what kinds of solidarity are possible in an unequal global tourism economy.
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Details
- Title
- Tourism boycotts and the struggle for justice: ethics, absence, and the politics of solidarity
- Creators
- Siamak SeyfiC. Michael Hall
- Publication Details
- A Research Agenda for Just Tourism Futures, pp 199-210
- Series
- Elgar Research Agendas
- Publisher
- Edward Elgar Publishing; Cheltenham, UK
- Number of pages
- 12
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Accounting
- Other Identifier
- 991022173461904721