This presentation explores the interlinkages between Knowledge - Peace - Tourism.

1. Knowledge – Peace –
Tourism
Babu George, PhD, DBA, EdS
Professor and Associate Dean
School of Business
Christian Brothers University
Memphis, TN, USA
WWW.CBU.EDU

2. Is
Knowledge
Peace?
• But, doesn’t knowledge lead to
war?
• But, isn’t ignorance bliss?

3. Is Peace Knowledge?
Peace is not knowledge
Of course, there
is knowledge
about peace!
BUT peace provides
conditions for the search,
discovery, material
realization of a qualitatively
distinct kind of knowledge.

4. YES, Peace Seeks a Special Kind of Knowledge
• Quest for peace motivates you to seek a different kind of knowledge
• Knowledge that unites and reconciles.
• Knowledge that sustains economies, societies, and nature.
• The kind of knowledge that aggression seeks is divisive and destructive
• Knowledge per se is neutral indeed
• Yet, knowledge could be repurposed depending upon the human
quest for goodness or evil.

5. Quest for Peace -> A New Kind of Tourism
Quest for peace
brings inclusive
tourism
1
Quest for peace
brings sustainable
tourism
2
Quest for peace
brings tourism
that is resilient in
crisis
3
Quest for peace
brings tourism
that resists
unethical practices
4

6. Quest for
Peace Means
a Special
Kind of
Tourism
Knowledge!
• Knowledge of tourism systems and
processes that unite and reconcile.
• Knowledge of tourism that results in cross-
demographic, cross-cultural, empathy.
• Knowledge of tourism that sustains
economies, societies, and nature.
• Knowledge that helps tourists transform
themselves into their better selves
• And, help them realize their greater purposes
• Not merely a “liminal transition” within the “tourist
bubble”!

7. How to
Make All
these Work
in
Destination
Areas?
Largely impractical to
block non-peace-
seeking tourists!
Tailor-make marketing
messages that attracts only
the right kind of tourists.
Build tourism
environments that
induce peace and
harmony.
Do not promote tourism that
aggravates the destructive
tendencies in human beings!
Offer subtle
educational
experiences to tourists
before they visit.
Incentivize good
behavior!

8. Towards
Peace-
Infused
Tourism
Knowledge
Not arguing against value neutral tourism knowledge
Yet, most social scientific knowledge has value
antecedents and consequences.
Scholarly communities in tourism should nurture research
projects that generate positive value.
Unfortunately, research papers that recommend
exploitative opportunities for tourism businesses find
easy pathways into top tier scholarly journals.
Grant funds, tenure decisions, etc., should somehow be
tied to the “triple bottom line” consequences of research
projects.

9. IMPORTANT:
Resist
“Authoritarian
Peace”
• Authoritarian regimes might sustain peace
by policing / militarization of its subjugated
resident population.
• A lot of peaceful tourist destinations have
the appearance of peace, as a result of this.
• Scholars should wear activist hats and
unearth the suppression.
• International tourist supply networks should
not supply tourists to such regimes.

10. Peace through tourism!
• This is often an excuse for
tourism development
• There is very little empirical
evidence that this works –
despite all the noise around
it.
Tourism through peace!
• Could we frame peace as a
tourism product?
• Could peace attract tourists
who seek tranquility?
• Could peace-filled
destinations inaugurate a
new era of tourism?
• May be another wishful
thought – but, worth trying!

11. And, right application of knowledge helps
us see this!

12. A
Concluding
Thought
We cannot make others stop telling lies
about us
But we can stop believing in lies that
others tell us about us
When we stop believing in lies about
ourselves, we bring peace to ourselves.

13. Thank you
www.linkedin.com/in/beingbabu