Tourism and the elusive peace amid violent post-conflict geographies in Colombia

As tourism is increasingly portrayed as a means for peacebuilding, the need to study its impact in conflict-ravaged areas has become more acute. Current debates on peace-through-tourism engage critically in such analyses, focusing further on the connection between tourism and socio-spatial (in)equalities, power (im)balances and everyday (in)securities as central elements in the study of peace. Yet the discussion still reinforces normative assumptions by tending to invariably associate community-based tourism with peace outcomes. Hence, paradox-ridden contexts where structural violence and oppression persist even in the presence of grassroots development receive considerably less attention. This article addresses this gap by discussing the case of Uraba, a Colombian region wracked by the armed conflict that has seen a rise in bottom-up tourism initiatives in recent years. Our findings suggest that, despite their perceived peacefulness, tourism spaces have become 'pockets of security' where the conditions enabling grassroots tourism are maintained as long as the legal and illegal power structures that are furthering dispossession in the region remain unchallenged. Drawing on insights from peace studies and human geography, we aim at contributing to the burgeoning body of research on peace tourism by proposing a more nuanced understanding of the linkages between tourism, violence, and the spatial reconfigurations that underlie the so-called post-conflict period. Ultimately, we want to encourage more critical analyses of the use of heart-winning discourses that could conceal violent geographies surrounding tourism spaces.