Tourism and Human Rights: A Complex Relationship

The objective of this article is to contribute to the understanding and discussion of the relationship between human rights and tourism. This topic has emerged, above all, in the wake of the discussion on ethics and social responsibility, frequently in a very polarized way in some public debate, and in very generic and non-discussed terms in declarations of intergovernmental organizations. It takes more than that. Thus, our purpose is to analyze, systematize and discuss the main dimensions of the relationship between tourism and human rights. We offer two interrelated approaches: a more theoretical and philosophical reflection on cultural interaction, dignity and human rights; and another approach more related to observation and operationalization of the problem in the social practices, how intergovernmental organizations present and formalize those issues and what are the actors and the logics at play in tourism. Our main conclusion is that such a relationship is inescapably complex because of the nature of tourism and its intrinsic interactions, and because human rights are related to an unfinished debate of plural perspectives, principles and operationalizations.