International Webinar: Chernobyl Tourism for Peace

We are now living in an ever more interconnected world where social, cultural, economic and environmental changes are evident around the globe, changes with potentially irreversible damage to the world we live in – to our planet mother earth and beyond. Climate change comes to mind, but so do also historical and present events, including those in our relatively recent history, those of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl 35 years ago and the nuclear attack on Hiroshima in 1945. While the changes we are seeing around the world are very much part of the big picture of the web of life in which we all exist, tourism as a microcosm of society can play an important role in developing better understanding and promoting values and actions that foster peace.

Travel has always been hailed as transformative – as a way to raise awareness and consciousness, responsibility and accountability for the world around us and us in it. We are at a time in our human existence where value systems and actions that demonstrate mutual care for peace at the macro and micro levels are needed urgently.   Now, more than ever before – in our era of the coronavirus pandemic, where we are experiencing greater disconnect accompanied by rising sense of fear of the unknown and feelings of insecurity – do we need to foster peace around us and peace within us. As a way to consider some of these complexities, we have assembled practitioners, scholars and managers of tourism as part of our panel to share some experiences of peace tourism and peace tours in Chernobyl and Hiroshima. We are here today to explore different perspectives – of achievements and problems, of ways to progress with our aspirations to draw on travel and tourism to promote peace – to foster peace-sensitive travel and peaceful co-existence.