Читать книгу Sociology - Anthony Giddens - Страница 272

People looking for new experiences in their leisure time often take holidays to places they have never been before. Some of these have been labelled forms of ecotourism – seeking out satisfying experiences that are close to nature or natural landscapes that are not available at home. Trips to see a natural ‘wilderness’, climb in the high mountains or see ‘wild’ animals in their natural environment have become quite common. But critics have questioned the sustainability of ecotourism, pointing to some of its negative environmental consequences, such as greenhouse gas emissions from flights and damage to the very environments that are valued caused by the accommodation blocks and modern facilities expected by tourists.

In recent years, a further form of ecotourism has been identified in which tourists seek out not a perceived wild nature but a natural world that is fast disappearing as a result of the global impact of climate change and increased biodiversity loss. This has been referred to as ‘Anthropocene tourism’. For example, people travel to witness first-hand the retreating glaciers, species on the brink of extinction, or low-lying islands threatened by rising sea levels. How can sociologists understand the development and attraction of this kind of disaster tourism experience? Read the paper below and answer the questions that follow.

Fletcher, R. (2019) ‘Ecotourism after Nature: Anthropocene Tourism as a New Capitalist “Fix”’, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(4): 522–35.

1 This paper is based on the analysis of secondary sources. How would you characterize the author’s theoretical position?

2 Explain the differences between the Anthropocene and the ‘Capitalocene’. What is meant by ‘disaster capitalism’?

3 List the main types of tourism discussed here and provide at least one example of each.

4 The author argues that capitalism has an extraordinary ability to renew itself through ‘creative destruction’. Discuss some of the ways this occurs in relation to Anthropocene tourism.

5 Thinking about the possible responses of tourists to their experiences, how might this form of tourism actually stimulate opposition to global capitalism?