ABSTRACT
The current neoliberal practices influencing the conduct and operation of tourism are unsustainable and unjust. Specifically, the mass consumption of natural resources, the continuous emission of greenhouse gases, the exploitation of Indigenous lands and the commodification of poverty provide a few examples signalling the urgency for a change in how tourism is operated and consumed. Activating caring responses are long overdue. Local communities and workers require support, and creative responses are needed to address the climate crisis which tourism has contributed too. In our analysis, we build on and advance the concept presented by Higgins-Desbiolles of socialising tourism. We reframe tourism as an activity of care towards oppressed people and the natural environment. We advocate that this caring should not be passive; instead, it should be deeply moving so tourists can become active agents fighting against systemic social failures imprisoning the oppressed in their situations and against the egocentric consumption and depletion of natural resources. In this chapter, we offer an analysis of the concept and nature of care, we discuss the current state of carelessness in tourism as a consequence of neoliberalism and conclude with a discussion of the multiple ways the concept of care can become a power for socialising tourism when embedded in a critical pedagogy curriculum.
