International Tourism, Vulnerability,
And Disaster Capitalism
Author(s)
S. C. Stonich
Abstract
Recently, Naomi Klein critiqued \“the rise of disaster capitalism,” an emerging
orientation in international development institutions to exploit natural and human
disasters in order to expedite the expansion of neoliberal capitalism. Klein
identifies the promotion of high-end tourism as a principal means of advancing
disaster capitalism. Based on ethnographic and survey research conducted in
Honduras between 1980 and 2004, this paper uses the example of Hurricane
Mitch in 1998 to assess the relevance of \“disaster capitalism” to describe disaster
assistance in the aftermath of this \“natural” disaster. It focuses on the promotion
of international tourism as a major economic development strategy during
recovery and reconstruction. It examines the actions of, and the linkages among,
the Honduran state (GOH), international donors, the private sector, and civil
society organizations during this period. Hurricane Mitch in Honduras is an
appropriate case to consider because it has been identified as the point at which
disaster capitalism hit its stride; it has been 7 years since Mitch and several
assessments of recovery and reconstruction efforts have been completed; and
thus, lessons learned (and not learned) from the experiences of Hurricane Mitch
can be applied to other cases. The paper concludes that although international
tourism has been a major development strategy in Honduras before and since
Hurricane Mitch, \“disaster capitalism” only partially captures the myriad
processes and phenomenon involved. While international tourism has grown
significantly in Honduras in recent years, the potential of international tourism to
affect broad social and ecological transformations, reduce vulnerability, and
enhance resilience, has not been realized.
Keywords: disasters, tourism, Hurricane Mitch, disaster assistance, disaster
capitalism, vulnerability, resilience, Honduras.
Keywords
disasters, tourism, Hurricane Mitch, disaster assistance, disaster
capitalism, vulnerability, resilience, Honduras.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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