ABSTRACT
We have argued that a pseudo-ethical and moral infrastructure underpins the growth of Third World tourism (Lea, 1993), with new middle-class tourists (or travellers) contrasting their morally justifiable means of travel with the morally reprehensible practices of tourists. There is a temptation to conclude from this, as Gordon-Walker does, that you ‘cannot help suspecting that the campaign for “sustainable tourism” is little more than a rationalised desire to keep the Third World a cheap place to visit’ (1993: 19). But such a conclusion would result in underselling the importance of how First World tourists impose their desires on Third World destinations. If the new middle classes are forced to wage this hegemonic classificatory struggle founded on taste, then it might be reasonable to expect that such struggles will also be reflected spatially. So at the very heart of this campaign lies, not just the preservation of a nice cheap place to visit, but the playing out of the battle of social class differentiation.
