Tourism and Politics: Responses to Crises in Island States

ABSTRACT Power and politics are crucial but often neglected topics in tourism scholarship. Issues of power particularly come to the fore when looking at what happens when the tourism sector responds to crises: this was very clear in the work that Professor David Harrison did examining the aftermath of several coup d’état in Fiji. His work provides a pathway to consider the more recent shocks in Fiji caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We examine how COVID-19 has impacted the Fijian tourism sector and people reliant on it, contrasting local examples of resilience with political responses that might be detrimental to the long-term recovery of Fiji’s economy. Tourism scholars need to move beyond apolitical analyses of the sector: all social scientists should be equipped to interrogate issues of power and politics in their research on tourism, just as David Harrison did in his work and in life in general.