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In an exploratory study by
Var and Ap (1998) about the relationship
between tourism and peace, the peace
variable was associated with a high degree
of uncertainty, with one third of
respondents providing a neutral response to
the statement “I believe that tourism
promotes world peace”. The authors proposed
that this uncertainty might have arisen from
a definitional problem with the term
‘peace’. They explained that many
respondents may have associated peace with
an ‘absence of war’ and that the concept
that would be most appropriate in the
context of tourism and peace is that of
‘harmony and harmonious relations’.
Therefore, a constructive discussion of
peace and tourism demands no less than a
definition that is less parsimonious than
the ‘absence of war’.
There is more to peace than
the absence of conflict. The map of war,
conflict, poverty, illiteracy, disease,
hunger, hatred and revenge has borders only
to those who cannot see beyond their comfort
zones. Even where there is no armed war or
conflict, people suffer from diseases that
are preventable, and starve to death
although there is enough food on earth, and
some do not have access to drinkable water
although oil pipes are running under their
homes. Some are denied a decent education,
housing and opportunities to play, grow,
raise a family, exercise the right to
freedom of speech or take part in their
governance. They are unable to feel peaceful
in situations where their human rights and
dignity have been violated (Satani, 2003).
Conflict is also apparent in
the most economically well off societies.
Ironically, despite the world becoming
smaller, it seems that cultural gaps have
widened in some places. While culture
fluidity must have eliminated culture shock
in many respects, it has nevertheless
contributed to cultural unrest (where two or
more cultures live together, but in
circumstances which have evolved from a
state of euphoria, to apathy, annoyance, and
even antagonism”, sometimes expressed
verbally and even physically) in so many
world communities (Moufakkir, 2008). The
current state of social development in the
world is described by Kim (2009) in these
words:
From long-festering
prejudices, discriminations, and hatreds to
the more recent acts of violent rage and
terror, we are seeing in all corners of the
world so many angry words, so much hurt, and
so much destruction. In this fractured
landscape, the ‘diversity’ or
‘multiculturalism’ embraced in many
societies is as much a point of tension,
contention, and terror as it is a cause
célèbre.
Of course many good things
are also happening in the world. We have
made so much progress, but history continues
to repeat itself.
One of the most significant
challenges facing citizens of the world in
these early decades of the Twenty-first
Century is the need to live and work
peacefully with others in all arenas of
personal and public life. This requires that
citizens learn about, value, promote,
protect, preserve, and sustain a culture of
peace in their families, their communities,
and in the broader societies of nation and
world. Emphasizing the importance of this
goal, the United Nations General Assembly
declared that the first decade of the 21st
Century be dedicated to education for a
culture of peace and nonviolence (Haessly,
2010).
Throughout history humankind
has looked into venues (other than war) to
enhance sustainable peace and harmony in the
world. Why not tourism? How? These are the
two simple and yet pressing questions on
which we would like to focus during this
conference.
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