Islands After Tourism: Escaping the Monocultures of Leisure

by George Papam, Matilde Córboda Azcárate, Angelos Varvarousis

Tourism does more than transforming spaces and forcing emotions: its geographies also conceal a persisting power that captures the imagination. In their operational sturdiness, tourismscapes appear intractable and inert, making their alternative renderings almost unthinkable. It feels uncanny to picture islands and their coasts freed from programs of leisure. But in recent years, the exhaustion of people and landscapes has brought forth a renewed imperative to think outside this ubiquitous extractive industry. Through essays, pieces of fiction, and visual references, this book discusses both the difficulty and the necessity of disrupting the monocultural imaginations of tourism. To escape the devouring vortex of its sticky nature and messianic promises, the cultural and political work necessary is not only this of negation and resistance, but also that of bold re-conceptualizations and re-imaginings.

96 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Karen Melchior · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a short little book with four essays on tourism. Perfect to accompany your travels. Mostly looks at tourism in areas of natural beauty and not cities, but the title did not promise more than that.

Somewhat anti-capitalist approach, but not too much. I’m intrigued that the destruction of the commons theory has been disproven for 30 years but the footnote didn’t help to see what I should read up on. This was part of the essay on Gavdos by Angelos Varvavrousis. Do let me know if I misunderstood something.