New Publication
Proposals for Designing Public Policies for Popular Tourism
Alba Sud. We have published a new policy brief by Ernest Cañada, Carla Izcara, Bastien Montovert, and Mariciana Zorzi with suggestions for designing tourism public policies that consider the needs and desires of popular sectors. Available in Spanish, Catalan, English, French, and Portuguese.
Informative note | Brasil
II Ecopoltur / IGU Tourism Regional Conference
Under the theme “Challenges and commitments of tourism in the contemporary world”, the II Ecopoltur will be held in Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon, from August 18 to 21. We share the first circular.
#27S
World Tourism Day 2024: an opportunity for peace?
Alba Sud | Editorial. «Tourism and Peace» is the theme UN Tourism chose to celebrate World Tourism Day on the 27th of September 2024. In a context in which armed conflicts and the culture of violence are spreading rapidly, it is necessary to ask ourselves, without preconceived ideas or triumphalism, what role the tourism industry is playing.
In depth | Colombia
Tourism and HR: a shared responsability
Nelson Rivera & Sergio Rivera | Fundación Renacer - ECPAT Colombia. To ensure that tourism is a vehicle for sustainable development and the promotion of human rights in all its forms, the actors involved, from businesses to governments, international organisations and society in general, must work together. Here is a reflection on this issue from Fundación Renacer, an organisation that works against the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
Report | Brasil
Work and harassment in kitchens of community guesthouses in the brazilian amazon
Mayra Laborda & Cecília Ulisses Frade dos Reis | Alba Sud. Sexual harassment against female cooks is common in community guesthouses in the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve, perpetrated by tourists who practice sport fishing. It is urgent to denaturalize these abuses, as well as to implement measures to prevent and combat harassment.
Transforming Tourism Initiative
Webinars: Aviation and tourism
Transforming Tourism Initative is organising two webinars on aviation and tourism on the 13th and 14th of December on climate change, evictions and governance, with experts and social organisations from different parts of the world.
Alba Sud News
Transforming Tourism Talks with Raoul Bianchi
From Transforming Tourism Initiative we continue with the launch of a new format of interviews with people from academia and civil society on tourism from transformative perspectives.
Alba Sud News
Transforming Tourism Talks with Regina Scheyvens
From the Transforming Tourism Initiative we are launching a new format based on interviewing people from the academic sector and civil organizations about tourism from transformative perspectives.
Alba Sud News | Costa Rica
Digital nomads: a bet for residential tourism in Costa Rica?
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. A new law in Costa Rica seeks to attract digital nomads. The increase in the demand for second homeowners housing may lead to the exacerbation of new real estate tourism conflicts on the coasts.
In detail | Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Maritime Terrestrial Zone or Special Economic Zone?
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. An initiative in the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica seeks to make modifications to the Maritime Terrestrial Zone law to make it more attractive to external investments. Which would have important social, environmental and economic implications in coastal territories.
Alba Sud News
Equality in Tourism and Associates COP26 declaration on gender equality
During a time when the world’s eyes are on the Climate Crisis we want to ensure that Gender Equality isn’t left out of the conversation. Equality in Tourism and other associated organitzations, among them Alba Sud, together we have written a declaration focused on the role of tourism in climate change and the impacts on women.
Transforming Tourism Initiative
Precarious futures for gender equality in the post-COVID tourism world
Carla Izcara | Alba Sud. Last Thursday, June 17th, a webinar on gender and labor precariousness in the tourism sector in the post-COVID19 context took place. The event was organized by the Transforming Tourism Initiative, a global network of NGOs, tourism professionals, and academics, of which Alba Sud is a member.
Alba Sud News | Costa Rica
Nosara mobilizes in support of the construction regulations
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. The coastal community of Nosara in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, is discussing a new construction regulation that seeks to take measures to protect the Ostional Wildlife Refuge. The opposition of real estate investors and tourism interests in the area hinders the new regulations.
Transforming Tourism Initiative
Precarious Futures for Gender Equality in the Post-Covid Tourism World
The Transforming Tourism Initiative invites you! New seminar about precarious working conditions, unfavorable gender relations that underpin the power structures of tourism and the severe structural forms of gender-based discrimination are endemic in the tourism sector.
Opinion | Costa Rica
Escazú Agreement: political pulse for the environment in Costa Rica
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. In Costa Rica, an agreement is being discussed that empowers citizens to participate in projects with environmental impact. Business chambers have expressed their rejection, once again it is discussed in terms of environment or economy.
Report | Costa Rica
Tourist guides to discover Costa Rica: a commitment to the national market
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. The drastic reduction in international tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic has made many countries turn their gaze to the national market, which has been undervalued until now. In the case of Costa Rica, its public authorities promote a series of guidelines to reactivate domestic demand, while they wait for the previous situation to return.
Report | Costa Rica
Marbella (Costa Rica): Testimonies of a tourist conflict in Guanacaste
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. In a case that we have been monitoring for a long time, Alba Sud made a tour of Playa Marbella, Guanacaste, to find out what progress or decline has been in the conflict between the community and real estate developments.
#TourismPostCOVID19 | Islas Baleares
Touristocracy: organized vulnerability
Joaquín Valdivielso & Jaume Adrover | Terraferida. The covid-19 pandemic has been an illuminating event in tourism societies. In a context of paralysis, it has served to make explicit distinctive features of what could be termed touristocracy. The Balearic islands is a paradigmatic case study.
In detail
Dharavi: tourism in the biggest slum in Asia
Alejandra López | Alba Sud. Dharavi is presented as a unique place, where precariousness but also hard work prevail. During the past few years, it has received growing tourist attention that has placed it in the middle of a broad ethical controversy, becoming the reflection of an inequality-based society.
New Publication
Gender inequalities in the tourism labour market
We publish a new report under the Alba Sud imprint, written by Núria Abellan Calvet, Carla Izcara Conde, Alejandra López Ballart and Marta Salvador Almela. The report analyzes fifteen gender inequalities in the tourism labour market from a gender, intersectional, critical perspective.
| Costa Rica
Costa Rica: criminalization of the environmental movement and tourism conflict
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. The Costa Rican Federation for the Conservation of the Environment (FECON) publishes a report compilates by Mauricio Álvarez, Alicia Casa and Fabiola Pomareda on the criminalization of environmental defenders. The book allows us to reread the tourist conflict as a dimension of the environmental conflict.
In detail | Mexico
Life and Pain of life in Holiday Regions: Mental Health and the Development of Tourism in Quintana Roo, Mexico
Sébastien Fleuret & Clément Marie dit Chirot . First destination for tourism in Mexico, the state of Quintana Roo also shows itself to face acute issues in mental health. In the face of health system shortfalls, the civil society organizes itself to tackle this phenomenon which could be worsened by the current sanitary crisis.
Formation: critical studies in tourism
Online seminar: "Climate Crisis, man-made Disasters and the Future of Tourism"
December 4th, Transforming Tourism Initiative, an international network of NGOs, tourism professionals and academia that demands a transformation of tourism, organizes its third webinar, with the interventions of Stefan Gössling (Sweden), Jesu Rathinam (India), Alejandro Palafox (Mexico) and Pankaj Sekhsaria (India).
New Publication
Volunteer tourism. Characterisation and debates of a global phenomenon
We publish a new report about volunteer tourism with Alba Sud Editorial written by Marta Salvador Almela. The report characterises the phenomenon and discusses some of its main debates in a global context of increasing growth until the COVID-19 pandemic.
In detail
The challenges of sustainability in surf tourism destinations
Valentina Robledo | Alba Sud. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, surf tourism was seen as an opportunity for many communities in impoverished countries. However, the negative impacts and the challenges of proper management that come with it are still present. The halt of activity around the world should be used to take the time to revise and discuss this model.
Opinion
A debate on the arguments surrounding alternatives in tourism
Ernest Cañada | Alba Sud. We share our thoughts on the question posed by the Catalan weekly paper ‘Directa’ on whether or not local and sustainable tourism, which break away from capitalist ideology, could be a viable alternative to mass tourism.
In detail
Impacts of slum tourism on the host community
Alejandra López | Alba Sud. The tourism sector is currently going through an interruption, which brings the opportunity to understand and rethink some of its expressions. An example could be slum tourism, a phenomenon that was growing in popularity before the pandemic and that has been exposed to a wide variety of opinions and controversies.
Opinion | Spain
Transforming tourism, reducing vulnerability
Ernest Cañada | Alba Sud. The COVID-19 pandemic has called the global tourism model into question. In the face of heightened vulnerability, it is necessary to challenge tourism policies and the public resources that ensue.
Campaigns
COVID 19 – now is the time to transform tourism
Open letter from the Transforming Tourism Initiative (TTI) to the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili. TTI is a platform that was created in 2017 for NGOs, tourism professionals, and academics who are in need of a tourism transformation.
In detail | Costa Rica
Marbella (Costa Rica): chronicle of a coastal conflict
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. The community of Marbella, in the canton of Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, is the latest conflict in the coastal areas of Costa Rica. The recent lawsuit of the Costa Rican Federation for the Conservation of the Environment (FECON) before the municipality raises the scale of the conflict.
Alba Sud News | Costa Rica
Seminar: «Vulnerabilities and post pandemic scenarios of tourism in Costa Rica»
Arturo Silva & Angélica Duarte | Alba Sud. Between August 10 and 14, a virtual seminar was held, organized by the School of Sociology of the University of Costa Rica and Alba Sud, in order to collectively analyze different dimensions of the tourism crisis caused by the pandemic of the COVID-19.
In detail
Agrotourism: Tourism and the rural world, a possible pairing?
Carla Izcara | Alba Sud. The debate about the transformation of the tourism sector, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, brings together different terms around proximity tourism. Agrotourism is presented as an option to complement farming activities with a touristic offer.
In detail
Industrial tourism: engine of change?
Núria Abellan | Alba Sud. In the current context of growing interest in proximity tourisms, industrial tourism becomes an opportunity to foster social and economic transformation of territories distant from the touristic centres, as well as recuperating collective memory.
Report | Cataluña
Beyond a sightseeing tour: social inclusion as the objective
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. The Foundation Bayt al-Thaqafa organises, together with a guide from AGUICAT, touristic routes for immigrant people, often excluded from this kind of activities, to know Barcelona. We accompany them during a visit to the Art Nouveau Site of Sant Pau.
In dedtail | Dominican Rep.
The slummification in Verón-Punta Cana, hidden behind the all-inclusive
Marta Salvador & Giselle Cedeño | Alba Sud. The Verón-Punta Cana Municipal Touristic District is characterized by a dual reality: luxury tourist resorts in front of the urban slummification of the local population, who lives in a vulnerable situation that has been intensified due to the pandemic of the COVID-19.
#TourismPostCOVID19 | Costa Rica
COVID-19 crisis in Costa Rica: an increasingly complex scenario
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. The threat of expansion of community contagion looms. Meanwhile the pressure to adopt measures that facilitate trade and economic activity is becoming increasingly stronger, especially in tourism. The social and political climate in Costa Rica is polarized.
#TourismPostCOVID19
COVID-19 outbreak on Diamond Princess cruise ship: what lessons could we learn?
Angela Teberga | Alba Sud. The Diamond Princess has been pointed out by academic literature as the only cruise ship in which the origin and evolution of the contagion could be mapped. Due to its importance, we can reconstruct what we know about this experience.
#TourismPostCOVID19
Local tourisms, a plural dispute
Ernest Cañada | Alba Sud. Local tourisms are not by themselves alternatives. Rather, they are part of a broader debate on tourism transformation within the framework of an increasingly urgent socio-ecological transition.
In detail
Gender mainstreaming in tourism university studies
Núria Abellan | Alba Sud. Applying gender perspective in any aspect of society is now more than ever a necessity. Its integration in tourism academia involves reviewing the current production of knowledge and the dynamics created inside and outside the classrooms.
#TourismPostCOVID19
COVID-19 and cruise ships: A drama anounced
Angela Teberga | Alba Sud. The academic literature has already shown that the concentration of people on cruise ships, the crew and passengers potentiate the transmission of diseases. Covid-19 failed to catch companies by surprise. The risk was well known.
In detail
LGBTIQ community and tourism: between capital and life
Núria Abellan | Alba Sud. In the relationship between the LGBTIQ community and tourism the commodification of these identities has prevailed. This has impacted on how destinations approach the community, often setting aside the difficulties suffered and the differences.
#TourismPostCOVID19
A feminist view of the COVID-19 crisis and tourism
Núria Abellan, Carla Izcara, Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. Tourism is in the spotlight due to the impacts derived from the pandemic and the future uncertainty. Consequently, it is necessary to apply a gender perspective that studies reality transversally.
Opinion
Tourism, water and gender: summary of a scientific article
Núria Abellan & Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. The trinomial tourism, water and gender has been scientifically explored through a review of literature by Cole, Cañada, Ma and Sandang, which presents the current state of knowledge and the possible lines of investigation of an underexplored nexus.
Report | Nicaragua
Volunteer tourism in Nicaragua: differences between organizational models
Angélica Picado Duarte & Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. Volunteer tourism in Nicaragua shows different management and organization models with actions aimed at promoting social projects in the communities. Even so, the arrival of COVID-19 has left a state of uncertainty about the future of this phenomenon.
#TourismPostCOVID19 | Argentina
Pandemic: opportunities and disputes in the next tourism in Argentina
Rodrigo Fernández Miranda & Verónica Dziencielsky | Alba Sud. The future of Argentina’s tourism is open. There are options for its transformation into a more equitable sense, open to the needs of large majorities. But continuity can also predominate. What actors and spaces in dispute configure the playing field?
#TourismPostCOVID19
Short-term rentals, Covid-19 and platform capitalism
Agustín Cocola-Gant. In the context of the pandemic, it seems that an opportunity for change is opening in the house market. Despite this, in the current situation the vast majority of tourist apartments will not go back to the residential market. This article deepens in the reasons that could explain this phenomenon.
#TourismPostCOVID19
COVID-19 and the prospects for the radical transformation of tourism
Raoul Valerio Bianchi. Despite advances in the argument for a transformation of tourism brought about by the pandemic crisis, there is a need for a more robust, multi-scale policy of intervention to challenge the power of tourism capital.
#TourismPostCOVID19 | Costa Rica
Impacts and reactions to the fall in tourism due to COVID-19 in Costa Rica
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. Public authorities have been very active in health control and the adoption of protection measures for its population. In addition to preparing the revival of tourism, one of its economic engines. It remains to be seen what changes will occur in the short and medium term and with what intensity.
#TourismPostCOVID19 | Panama
Panama, between uncertainty and hope of a future influenced by the coronavirus
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. Panama, like the rest of the world, lives in a state of alert due to the pandemic of the COVID-19, which has led the country to take measures to prevent all the possible infections. These measures have also affected tourism, one of the main drivers of the Panamanian economy.
#TourismPostCOVID19
Staycation: A way of looking at local tourism?
Carla Izcara & Ernest Cañada | Alba Sud. The term “local”, while vague and open to various interpretations, focuses largely on how we see the future of tourism. One word that has gained appeal is “staycation. But what is it and what does it mean?
#TourismPostCOVID19
The future of touristic cities after the pandemic
José Mansilla | OACU. More homogeneous cities in the hands of fewer companies, but more powerful and with a strong technological component. This appears to be the dystopic future that awaits us. What needs to be done to reverse this horizon?
Report | Guatemala
The Mayan weavers of Guatemala: the fight against cultural appropriation of their art
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. The Guatemalan weavers are protagonists of a movement for the revindication of their culture, heritage and art. Women fight against cultural appropriation of their ancestral textiles, representatives of their past, present and future history.
Report
Feminism and tourism: discovering the stories of 7 great women
On the 8th of March 2020 we pay tribute to seven women who represent the feminist fight in the tourism field. From their area, social context and geographic place, our protagonists fight and claim feminism every day. An article by Núria Abellan, Carla Izcara, Alejandra López, Angélica Picado, Marta Salvador, Érica Schenkel and Angela Teberga.
Opinion | Spain
Business strategies that make tourism employment precarious
Ernest Cañada | Alba Sud. How do companies behave to reduce their labour costs? We know the dynamics of precariousness well, therefore in this article, some of the main mechanisms used in the tourist industry are identified.
Report | Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Nosara, a particular destination
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. Residential tourism in Guanacaste has been overwhelming and has led to a long history of conflicts. However, there are some nuanced and not for that less contradictory local processes, more open to the discuss their development strategy. Nosara is one of these cases.
Report
Necrotourism or cemetery tourism, visiting death and tragedy
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. The concept of dark tourism encompasses a contemporary phenomenon, which has lately generated a great interest in the media and the academy due to the fact that it is a new typology of tourism that has also propitiated ethical debates.
| Europe
The new guides of European cities: the touristic narrative of homeless people
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. Tourism is present in very different contexts around the world and, being towed by the post fordism dynamics and the turning of poverty into a tourist attraction, it even reaches the homeless people. At the same time, the ethic questioning of these tourist offers is intensifying.
Report | Panama
Capital interests threaten the National Park of Coiba
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. Even being one of the richest natural parks in terms of biodiversity at a global level, the preservation of the National Park of Coiba, Panama, has been threatened in recent years. This is due to the determination of the Panamanian government to promote tourism on the island.
Report | Panama
Red Frog Beach, between territorial dispossession and local empowerment
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. The tourist complex Red Frog Beach projected in the Island of Bastimentos, in Panama, is an example of the local communities' mobilization to face the property speculation threat and the use of natural resources linked to tourism.
Analysis
Tourism and climate change in the Mediterranean region
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. Climate change can lead to profound changes in the tourism industry in the Mediterranean and in the very societies in which it develops. In turn, air transport is one of the main responsible for global warming.
Report | Costa Rica
Pavones: the most widespread secret in Costa Rica
Arturo Silva Lucas | Alba Sud. Jeremy Evans' book, "The Battle for Paradise" (2015), reconstructs the fascinating story of a coastal community in which surfing ended up playing a leading role in how this destination is defined. But what balance can be made of what this activity has brought to the community?
Which are the impacts of volunteer tourism?
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. Apart from being an increasingly popular and interest phenomenon, volunteer tourism or voluntourism generates debates around it, such as which are the impacts that it has on volunteers and local communities.
The Transforming Tourism Initiative and SDG 8
Frans de Man | Retour Fountation - Alba Sud. Document with a strategy proposal for the international incidence of the 8th Sustainable Development Goal, developed by the NGO platform Transforming Tourism, from the agreements reached in the Berlin Meeting the past March 5th, 2019.
Opinion
Volunteer tourists, which are their motivations?
Marta Salvador | Alba Sud. Volunteer tourism or voluntourism phenomenon is living a moment of high popularity, not only due to the increased number of tourists and organizations, but also because of the media impact during the last years.
Audiovisual series
Audiovisual Series: Community management of forest areas
Ernest Cañada | Alba Sud. We present four new audiovisual reports produced by Alba Sud for PRISMA Foundation and the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB) in Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama on communities’ and indigenous peoples’ experiences in the use and conservation of forest resources.
Campaign Information
UITA will launch a global campaign on the working conditions of hotel housekeepers
Norberto Latorre | Rel-UITA.
Unions launch an international campaign aimed at different multinational enterprises and companies to improve the regulation of labor in this sector.
Opinion | Cataluña
Rural Community-Based Tourism in Latin America Seeks Alliances in Catalonia
Ernest Cañada & Mariona Ortiz | Alba Sud. During October 20-29, 2013, a meeting sponsored by Alba Sud took place in Catalonia, bringing together representatives from eight community-based tour-operators from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia.
Alba Sud News
Catalonia: Rural Community-Based Tourism Encounter
Representatives from 8 community-based tourism operators in Latin America will visit Catalonia during the month of October 2013 for an encounter organized by Alba Sud, in collaboration with CETT-UB, Èxode Viatges, Tosca, the City Council of Sant Cugat and the support of the Barcelona Diputació.
Opinion | Cataluña
Catalonia: truths and lies about the ‘Ripoll’ licence for hydrocarbon extraction
Llorenç Planagumà | Alba Sud / CST. The company Teredo Oil wants to salvage its hydrocarbon research and exploitation licences. But, scientists say that there are no geological ‘reservoirs in the subsoil that could act as oil deposits.
Opinion
Riudaura: capital of the fight against fracking
Llorenç Planagumà | CST / Alba Sud. In October 2012 the Catalan government granted a licence for oil and gas prospection to a multinational company who planned to carry out tests near the village of Riudaura (Catalonia). The outcry and popular pressure obliged the government to withdraw the licence on 15 March.
Alba Sud News
Seattle + 10? One climate, one people
Joan Buades | Alba Sud. Fourth in the series COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN analyzing the latest maneuvers leading up to the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change that reveal just how much is at stake. A call to civil disobedience in defense of global climate justice.
Alba Sud News
Climate Auction: a mirage of charity checks
Joan Buades | Alba Sud. In his third article in the series COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN, brings to light how attention is being diverting from the need for a regulatory agreement on climate change at the upcoming Copenhagen Summit with talk about the cost of funding it.
Alba Sud News
Protecting the (Business) Climate: ditch the poor global South, forget Montrea
Joan Buades | Alba Sud. This is the second article in the series COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN on the debate leading up to the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen, 7-18 December 2009.
Alba Sud News
The OurMedia Network Conference 2009
Yerina Rock. The OurMedia Network’s 8th conference was held this year in Medellin, Colombia, between the 27th and 31st of July. The event explored the role of communications in the construction of individual and collective narratives of conflict and coexistence.
Alba Sud News
Gordon Brown: A Nordic makeover, then back to frying the planet
Joan Buades | Alba Sud. Copenhaguen will be the venue of the next United Nations Summit for Climate Change, where it is expected to reach a new agreement to substitute the Kyoto Protocol. With this section, Alba Sud begins a series of articles named COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGUEN, through which this process will be followed.
Opinion | Central America
The economic viability of community-based tourism
Ernest Cañada | Alba Sud. In the debate framework on the economic viability of community based-tourism some critical issues are identified, such as diversification versus specialisation, the limits of the markets, the will or its lack of affirming autonomy, or the ongoing dispossession processes.
Opinion | Central America
Contributions of community-based tourism to rural development
Ernest Cañada | Alba Sud. Characterisation of the main contributions of community-based tourism in Central America in those initiatives where it has been successfully developed.