Growing up, we are often told that travel makes us better as human beings. That seeing the vast, wide world brings us all closer together. And most importantly that tourism benefits the places that we visit. But what if none of this is true?
Kill Tourism is a fearless book that pulls back the curtain on one of the world’s most renowned industries – tourism. With total precision and unwavering clarity, it shows how tourism has quietly reshaped our cultures, and our economies – not as a force of good, but as a system of control and consumption. It exposes what is lost when beauty becomes a product and presence becomes entitlement. Kill Tourism is not just a critique of tourism and all it entails, it offers a drastic alternative – a vision of travel rooted in community, care and regeneration, where the right to refuse is finally restored to the places we all claim to love. Pressing and unashamedly vivid this book welcomes us to a world where not every place must be seen and where care replaces consumption as the logic of movement.
As the authors of Kill Tourism tell us, governments, development agencies and corporations present tourism as a win-win solution for global development, promising economic uplift, cultural exchange and environmental conservation all wrapped into one. However, tourism is really a modern invention, evolving from specific historical, social and political conditions. As stated in Kill Tourism – “It is a phenomenon fundamentally tied to the rise of capitalism, colonialism and industrialization – and embedded in structures of inequality, power and dispossession that continue to shape the industry today.”
The authors of the book introduce Tourservation – according to them not a tourist reform but an entirely new paradigm
As the authors of Kill Tourism go on to explain, tourism was born out of the leisure practices of European elites during the 17th and 18th centuries, principally in the form of the Grand Tour – a rite of passage for young aristocratic men who travelled across Europe, to Italy, France, and Greece to acquire the cultural capital to perform their class identity (Towner, 1985). These acts were a part of the social reproduction of elite power, carefully staged voyages through the ruins of empires and galleries of Renaissance art to settle one’s status in European society.
Colonialism was central to the making of global tourism. As the authors of Kill Tourism write: “As European empires spread across Asia, Africa and the Americas, the landscape and cultures of colonized peoples were transformed into playgrounds for colonial elites and eventually international tourists. In British India, for instance, the creation of hill stations such as Murree, Nathiagali and Dalhousie provided not only climatic refuge for the colonial administration but also leisure spaces that allowed British elites to escape the “native” world of the plains and retreat to sanitized, exclusive environments (Kennedy, 1996).”
Title: Kill Tourism
Authors: Mir Sana Ullah Khan / Waqar Ali Khan / Dr Abdul Samad
Publishers: Sang-e-Meel Publications
Year: 2025
Kill Tourism explains the “tourist gaze” and how it shapes not just how places are seen but how they are transformed to cater to tourist expectations, doing away with complex histories, social struggles and environmental concerns in favour of an easily consumable image (MacCannell, 1976). Existing inhabitants are misplaced whether they are farmers, fisherfolk or indigenous custodians of the land.
The authors of the book introduce Tourservation – according to them not a tourist reform but an entirely new paradigm. They say that: “Tourservation is rooted in the belief that travel can and must be restricted around the principles of reciprocity, regeneration and justice, but it requires abandoning the capitalist and colonial logics of tourism as an industry. Instead of seeing places and cultures as destinations to be consumed Tourservation insists that they are living systems of meaning, belonging and responsibility – and that any form of travel must be accountable to these realities.”
Tourservation is built on three interlinked principles: firstly, community sovereignty, secondly ecological regeneration and thirdly cultural identity. In fact, Tourservation is not invention, in fact, it is a return of age-old practices. Tourservation leads to regeneration of the community and preservation of culture such as local languages which is thought to be essential. The book is thorough and detailed in how the vision of Tourservation should be made a reality on ground and is a must read.
It gives many detailed examples of indigenous communities all across the globe where tourism has threatened the very fabric of society and where Tourservation can and will be helpful. I really enjoyed reading these as it seemed as if I was traversing the globe without travelling – just the way the authors of the book would like it. It even gives Sheikh Badin in Pakistan as a case study for Tourservation. We don’t really need a world where people can travel more freely. What we need is a world where places are protected, where cultures are not consumed, where communities choose privacy over profit and still flourish. Tourservation will help make that world come about. It is a vision presented by the authors for a life beyond tourism. Tourism must be disassembled and our communities and spaces must be reimagined.
So, we must, “Kill Tourism.”