Reorientation of Uncertainty in Tourism

Keywords

tourism　,uncertainty,awe

Objectives

In recent years, much research has been done on the uncertainties and risks associated with tourism with the goal of mitigating them. However, these studies have not always been able to provide effective prescriptions to deal with increasing risks such as COVID-19 and tourism pollution. Perhaps the issue is that, in today’s “risk society,” the “problem-solution” framework for addressing ever-growing risks and uncertainties cannot fully address something like tourism.
From this understanding, the present research distances itself from the view that uncertainties and risks are problems that need to be eliminated. Tourism is both a practice that reflects contemporary social conditions and a phenomenon based on traditional worldviews such as ritual and symbolism. This research shines a fresh light on the latter aspect, which has been neglected in recent tourism studies. By bridging classic debates in anthropology and such contemporary theoretical developments in risk studies and phenomenological approaches, it carries out ethnographic research from a fresh perspective on a world that coexists with uncertainty and risk. From there, we intend to open up theoretical perspectives on tourism practice and tourism research “with uncertainty,” which does not see uncertainty as a problem, but rather as a resource that might be negotiated and accepted through magical/religious procedures.