ABSTRACT
In an era where global capitalism threatens cultures and provokes heavy impact on environment and social life, responsible tourism can play a fundamental role in proposing an alternative paradigm to the massive destruction travels. This chapter is divided into three main parts. After introducing the concept of responsible tourism, we conceptualize tourism and migration within a common perspective that considers both the opportunities and the challenges of mobility. The second part of the chapter concerns two empirical case studies from Italy: the festival of responsible tourism, IT.A.CA’, and the intercultural urban itineraries, Migrantour. On the basis of the results of ethnographic research focused on these two case studies, the third part of the chapter shows how responsible tourism can have a fundamental role in building stronger and intercultural communities and how this relation can positively affect sustainable development processes. We show that the collaboration among ‘reflexive’ local actors and the inclusion of marginalized social groups in responsible tourism projects and practices can contribute to co-creating an intercultural heritage and identity that go beyond the tourism experience itself to become a process of construction of fairer and more inclusive communities.
