ABSTRACT
The authors seek to emphasise that children are not only “residents” but critical participants and careful observers. Planners and managers frequently ignore children and exclude them from the participatory planning process in tourism communities. Thus their access to social justice has been implicitly denied. Are they simply non-reactive objects without “social competence” in a process which may essentially and fundamentally affect their future lives and human condition?
We have also in the preceding chapters sought to distance ourselves from the ideology of seeing tourism destinations only in an economic vision and measuring all activity in terms of value added or financial market inputs. Sustainable tourism rejects consumerism and the commoditisation of tourism products by seeking to protect and preserve fragile environments which inevitably must have a profound impact on children and their future.
Without doubt the opinions of children and young people about tourism and regarding their possible employment in tourism is a neglected concept. The push towards greater sustainability is incomplete, because those who will be participants in future tourism, as the climate crisis unfolds, will not have a developed sense of understanding what sustainability implies. Young people must and should have a voice in the planning of tourism development in their destinations, and that voice must be heard.
Without any doubt or delay we require accessing the views of children and young people who live, work or are observers in the tourism industry. These are neglected areas in tourism research and we are mistaken to neglect children and young people’s views towards tourists, as these are the basis for the development of more sustainable tourism activities.
