ABSTRACT
The authors present the current conceptual and empirical facets of borders as barriers to travel and tourism. They first discuss borders and physical access with a focus on how different economic factors, visa politics, sanctions, and case-specific regulations influence and create barriers to human mobility and tourism activities across national borders. Second, they scrutinize borders as mental and symbolic barriers to tourism mobilities and the ways in which they relate to administrative infrastructures, institutional and societal practices, and cultural landscapes and stereotypes. While a distinction is often made between mental boundaries and material boundaries, the two are, in fact, inseparable. Wars and tense geopolitical relationships between countries often constitute both concrete institutional barriers and mental obstacles. Third, the authors scrutinize borders as barriers to tourism development and how border regulations, political environments, and a lack of sociocultural cohesion affect the potential for transfrontier tourism development. They conclude that borders as barriers to tourism development and travel mobilities are both unstable, persistent, and diverse in their forms and targets.
