Give peace a punch?
Political consumerism and tourism in the Holy Land
Yael Ram, Ashkelon Academic College, Israel
Rami K. Isaac, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Omri Shamir, Ashkelon Academic College, Israel
Peter M. Burns, University of Brighton, UK
Theme: tourism research frontiers
Aims
The current work represents the early stages of a project that aims to explore
the roles and actions of different actors in the context of political tourism in the
Holy Land, and to shed light on the possible influence of these actions on
peace and understanding between the two sides. In pursuing this aim, the
political consumerism perspective, which has been defined as “consumer
choice of producers and products with the goal of changing objectionable
institutional or market practices” (Micheletti, 2003, p. xiv) was adopted.
Political consumerism may translate into a negative action, such as a boycott
or a positive form, for example, the support and purchase of goods and
services from selected companies in order to reward them for their perceived
ethical behavior (Friedman, 1996).
Political tourism is a type of political consumerism that “contributes to our
understanding of what enables (or impedes) social justice work across
transnational borders” (Moynagh, 2008 p. 7). Political tourists choose to draw
attention to a destination or a region thus aligning with the cause they are
supporting (Brin, 2006). According to Belhassen and Santos (2006), there are
four actors that use tourism to promote respective political agendas:
governments, local communities, armed groups, and tourists. These four
actors comprise the supply-demand value chain. While the first three are part
of the ‘supply’ side, the tourists are representatives of the ‘demand’ side. The
purpose of the present exploratory research is to identify the different actors in
the context of political tourism in the Holy Land and to suggest directions and
priorities for the main study.
Methodology
In order to contextualize the research problem, a ‘conceptual analysis’
approach was used whereby “information is understood as evidence and
evidence as information” (Furner 2004, p. 233) creating a beneficial loop
between hard to define research areas and complex socio-political contexts.
Additionally, Xin, Tribe and Chambers (2013) recommended considering a
conceptual analysis when deconstructing a concept that is characterized by a
possibility for cultural or other types of biases. Thus, a research team of
Israeli and Palestinian researchers conducted a conceptual analysis based on
a literature review of academic studies and non-academic marketing
materials, from both sides (Israel and Palestine) in their original languages
(English, Hebrew, Arabic)
Results and discussion
The literature revealed that political consumerism in the Holy Land has three
sides - two sides of supply (Israeli and Palestinian) and the demand side (the
tourists); this finding confirmed the validity of supply and demand as the two
directions for future research. Regarding supply side issues, both sides utilize
the same means for applying political tourism, namely NGOs. The agenda of
these NGOs is varied. The Israeli NGO's agenda is based on moral tenets
(Zionism and Judaism) while the Palestinian agenda is based on the injustices
caused by the Israeli regime. As a result, the two sides focus on different
tenets and provide very different tour plans. While the Israeli tours focus on
‘macro’ aspects, (historical and biblical rights) the Palestinian side offer ‘micro’
aspects (the difficulties of the everyday life including restrictions on
movements within Palestine). A future direction for research could be the
planning and implementation of joint tour plans that reflect both narratives,
including the macro/ micro aspects mentioned above.
The second issue for future study addresses the demand side. The literature
overlooked the a priori selection mechanism, namely, the place attachment
concept. People choose to participate in political consumerism because their
a priori agendas and tourism is not exceptional in this context. Given that
tourists have dispositions, they will choose, by means of political
consumerism, destinations that would fit their a priory agendas. Since the
supply side is characterized, in both sides, by subjective narratives, the
tourists would be exposed to partial arguments that would strengthen their
place attachment dispositions, and may deepen the political conflict. This
situation calls for research into place attachment and its role in political
tourism.
References:
Belhassen, Y. & Santos, C. A. (2006). An American Evangelical Pilgrimage to Israel:
A Case Study on Politics and Triangulation. Journal of Travel Research,
44(4), 431-441.
Brin, E. (2006). Politically-oriented tourism in Jerusalem. Tourist Studies, 6(3),
215–243.
Friedman, M. (1996). A positive approach to organized consumer action: The
"Buycott" as an alternative to the boycott, Journal of Consumer Policy,
19(4), 439-452.
Furner, J. (2004) Conceptual Analysis: A Method for Understanding Information
as Evidence and Evidence as Information. Archive Science 4: 233-265
Micheletti, M. (2003). Political Virtue and Shopping, New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Moynagh, M.A. (2008) Political Tourism and its Texts. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press
Xin, S., Tribe, J., & Chambers, D. (2013). Conceptual research in tourism.
Annals of Tourism Research, 41(1), 66-88.