Study explores what attracts tourists to conflict zones

Unique sensations of touch are an integral part of the experience for international tourists visiting contested conflict zones according to new research.

Writing in Tourist Studies journal, Professor Dorina-Maria Buda from Edge Hotel School, explains how unique touch experiences in conflict zones drive tourism.

Her study is based on fieldwork in the Palestinian West Bank - before the recent escalation of hostilities – where international tourists visit the Separation Wall, Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel, the Nativity Church in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, home of Banksy’s Flower Thrower, and take part in tree planting and olive picking campaigns.

She found that a complex mix of emotions, driven by touch, explain why some tourists seek experiences in areas most of us would avoid.

“When we go on holiday we want to feel something. Typically, that’s the feel of the sun on our skin or the sand between our toes and the emotion it evokes is fun and relaxation. When you’re in a conflict zone the touch points are very different, but still alluring to some tourists who want to challenge their emotions and understanding of the world,” Professor Buda explained.

“Tourists in the Palestinian West Bank for instance touch the cold steel of turnstiles at checkpoints and the hard concrete of the Separation Wall near the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem. All of these moments of touch illicit different emotions, like fear, anger, amazement or frustration.

“These tourists aren’t visiting conflict zones purely out of some morbid curiosity, they want their emotions and preconceptions to be challenged.”

Professor Buda interviewed international tourists as well as locals working in the tourism sector from taxi drivers and tour guides to marketing managers and the Minister for Tourism and Antiquities. She believes tourists visit conflict zones because they want to engage in the region in a positive way and support the local community.

“They want to feel emotionally connected to the situation there and they want to feel like they are bringing about a small positive change by experiencing the realities of life on the ground.”

Professor Buda believes revealing those “realities on the ground” is crucial to the local-tourist relationship.

“Unlike traditional tourist hotspots, where over-tourism can impinge on the lives of local communities and cause tension, in contested regions where there is already tension, local communities often welcome tourists as it’s an opportunity for them to tell their own story about living in a conflict zone and have their voices heard.”

Professor Buda’s study was funded by the Dutch Research Council.

Read her paper, Haptic tourism: Touch and fear at the Separation Wall and its checkpoints in the Palestinian West Bank.