Why I won’t be celebrating World Tourism Day

𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗗𝗮𝘆! 🥳 … 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Others will. As every year, UN Tourism marks the occasion with a summit, this time in El Salvador, dedicated to the “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism”.

𝗔𝗜, 𝗕𝘂𝗸𝗲𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁-𝘂𝗽-𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗽𝘁𝗼-𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙢𝙤 – I know, the dystopian jokes practically write themselves…

On a more serious note: one doesn’t expect much from such events – not least because the tourism sector, for all its virtue signalling, rarely lets politics get in the way of business, and isn’t exactly known for being particularly critical in other respects either (least of all when it comes to technologies hailed as the next great saviour).

Yet even with my expectations set low, this one strikes me as particularly 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗳.

Think about it: the world is debating the ethical – and, for some, existential – risks of AI and the concentration of power behind it, while tourism’s social and ecological costs and the rise of authoritarianism continue to make headlines.

Yet conference attendees are invited to explore how “AI can help create smarter, more inclusive and sustainable tourism” and ponder such 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩-𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 as “Reimagining Tourism Promotion through Artificial Intelligence”, the role of “new technologies in shaping travel choices” and how AI can “unlock innovation while building trust”. El Salvador meanwhile gets ample opportunities for self-promotion, complete with a tour of San Salvador with the First Lady and a trip to Surf City, Bukele’s postcard flagship of state-led (tourism) development – and coastal dispossession.

Of course, the organisers are free to discuss building trust in a country described by many as sliding towards (techno-)authoritarianism (and, yes, I know, El Salvador is hardly alone in that), or to explore “inclusion” without, from what I can tell, inviting anyone likely to offer more than a token challenge to what judged by the programme promises to be an overwhelmingly (self-)celebratory narrative surrounding AI, tourism or, for that matter, El Salvador itself.

They can also schedule a “technical visit” to Surf City (“Dress code: fresh, casual beach look, casual”) – which almost certainly will avoid the uncomfortable question of what the kind of 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗺, 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 unfolding there means for the environment or those whose land and livelihoods stand – or stood – in its way.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 – especially when the organisation responsible is not your ordinary trade association but an UN agency.