Human Rights Issues in Tourism

This book uniquely focuses on human rights issues associated with tourism development and tourism businesses. Tourism is a manifestation of globalization and it intersects with human rights on so many levels. These implications are increasingly relevant in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global economic hardship.

Split into two main sections, the first establishes a background to human rights issues with reference to tourism, and the second provides a multi-disciplinary analysis of a range of selected human rights issues in tourism; these include displacement, security, privacy, discrimination, freedom of movement, the rights of Indigenous people, sex tourism and labour conditions. All chapters include case studies to showcase specific issues such as legal rulings or tourism policies/regulations. This book is written by a highly regarded team of authors specializing in tourism studies and human rights law.

This significant volume on the interaction between tourism development and the safeguarding of human rights will be of interest to a variety of disciplines, in the fields of tourism, political science and tourism/human rights.

Atsuko Hashimoto is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies at Brock University, Canada. Her research focuses on sociocultural, cross-cultural and human aspects of tourism, human rights and equity issues in tourism development, and issues in sustainable tourism development in rural areas. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and an MSc and PhD in Tourism Development and Management from the University of Surrey, UK. She has also worked for Tourism Canada (now Destination Canada) at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. She taught at the University of Luton (now University of Bedfordshire, UK) in the Department of Tourism and Leisure Studies before immigrating to Canada to take up a position at Brock University.

Elif Härkönen, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Business Law at Linkoping University in Sweden. She has a background in international and comparative law with an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Tulane University, USA, as well as a doctorate degree in private law from Gothenburg University, Sweden. She is licensed to practice law in Sweden and the state of New York. She holds a National Committee on Accreditation Certificate of Qualification in Canadian Law. Dr. Härkönen has published articles in tourism and legal journals in subjects ranging from child sex tourism to human rights, supply chain management and corporate social responsibility/corporate criminal liability. She has been responsible for a course in Tourism and Hospitality Law at the post-graduate level and was a member of the advisory board of the MSc of Tourism and Hospitality Management Program at Gothenburg University. She contributed as a Global Study Partner to the 2016 ECPAT Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism.

Edward Nkyi is a Director at The Salvation Army Northumberland (Cobourg and Port Hope) Community and Family Services in Ontario, Canada. Edward has research interests in tourism, human rights, human security, international development and political economy. He holds an MA in Political Science from Brock University, Canada, and an LL.M. in Human Rights and Criminology from the University of Hull, UK. In addition, he has a BA in Political Science from the University of Ghana.