Touristic securitisation – the everyday practice of securing tourists to secure tourism – is on the rise. This practice is often presented as an uncontentious ‘win-win’ human security practice and an important part of sustaining tourism and, thus, the prospect of sustainable tourism development. This presentation seeks to disrupt this understanding of touristic securitisation. Drawing upon critical political economy, security, and tourism studies, it theorises and interrogates touristic securitisation through asking three questions: How did touristic securitisation emerge? How is it practiced? And, what are its wider social impacts? In addressing these questions, the presentation argues that touristic securitisation is best understood as a neoliberal security practice that (re)produces inequalities and insecurities.
