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How does racism affect a person's choice of tourist destination, activity and travel behaviours?

How does racism affect a person's choice of tourist destination, activity and travel behaviours?
Author: Bhes Gurung
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Abstract

The BAME community have a major different outlook with travel behaviours with destination and activity choices. With many activities which are predominately seen as ‘white’ activities and destinations which may not be welcoming to BAME tourists. This research will be discussing the problems which the BAME community faces when looking into tourism.

Key Words: Racism, Travel Behaviour, Race, Discrimination, Destination choice

Racism is increasingly being acknowledged as a fundamental contributor to inequalities in power, income, and opportunities. A thorough understanding of racism helps activist groups, politicians, and governments alike (Li et al., 2020). There are many activities that can be seen as ‘white’ such as cycling and skiing which can deter many BAME people from taking parts in these activities and ruling out many destinations due to the fear of racism. This has been one of the main barriers for BAME people as not only has the activity and destination been predominately white the spaces around also have which make the BAME community feel uncomfortable. Social media trends like the trendy hashtag "travelling while Black" has highlighted some of the positive and negative experiences of Black travellers today (Dillette et al., 2018). How the BAME community have had to create their clubs in activities and destinations have changed their ways in travel behaviour. Skiing participation is influenced by economic reasons as well as cultural leisure preferences, both of which are influenced by racial differences and have implications for them (Harrison, 2013). Being part of a BAME community and being both well-travelled and taking part in stereotypically ‘white’ activities would allow for a great narrative for a person who could not see it.

The method chosen for this study was a semi-structured interview which was conducted to gain information on an individual’s perspective and experiences dealing with racism within Tourism and the activities in which they take part. The participant for this interview was of black British African descent and someone who was well travelled and took part in cycling which is also seen as a very ‘white’ activity. There were 8 questions which were asked within this interview which allowed for information that covered all areas such as their travel behaviour, Personal tourism racism, discrimination of BAME when taking part in a ‘white’ activity and extra tourism research for BAME people due to the fear of racism with certain destinations.

From the data collected it was clear that overall that racism had a massive impact on the individuals travel behaviour, Activity and destination choice when travelling. Some of the points which the interviewee made were around the need for extra research for countries which they knew they could comfortably travel to without the fear of racism or discrimination. An example which they stated was travelling to Russia and parts of Eastern Europe hasn’t been seen as a great idea for Black people due to the reputation of the countries. Furthermore, it was also stated the importance of safe space when travelling or taking part in activities as it BAME people more comfortable due to the less likelihood both racism and discrimination. Overall, the main findings from the data were that racism is neglected in certain parts of the world, the use of social media and its anomality hinders progress from society and the level of discrimination within society is still there.

This study within this topic is vital at the current time due to the many social injustices against the BAME community, racism and discrimination being such a large talking point within society in current times. The threat which the BAME community may feel when they are having to do in-depth research so that they do not come across racism is always at a high in today’s world. The changes in travel behaviour have meant that more Black people are tending to travel in large groups and to places that have been mostly recommended by friends and family due to the fear of racism.

References

Dillette, A.K., Benjamin, S. and Carpenter, C. (2018) Tweeting the Black Travel Experience: Social Media Counternarrative Stories as Innovative Insight on #TravelingWhileBlack. Journal of Travel Research, 58(8) 1357–1372. Available from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0047287518802087?casa_token=6XpfxoPAVXEAAAAA%3AVBAsUZ3tFKJ9H_7zcqDxBRZPZQp51J98uLhH1ngUr2AuL2j_srgeUihZdZoaMrsQIhDoy2eHVSgWmw [accessed 7 June 2021].

Harrison, A.K. (2013) Black Skiing, Everyday Racism, and the Racial Spatiality of Whiteness. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 37(4) 315–339. Available from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723513498607 [accessed 7 June 2021].

Li, S., Li, G., Law, R. and Paradies, Y. (2020) Racism in tourism reviews. Tourism Management, 80104100.Available from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517720300261#bib9 [accessed 7 June 2021].