Terminal Illness and Tourism: The Journey Towards Peace in Times of Need

Abstract

Tourism is widely regarded as a facilitator of peace – tourism experiences can build understanding, respect, and tolerance between people of diverse nations, values, culture and religions. Tourism is also widely regarded as contributing to the mental well-being of individuals; tourism experiences can be imbued with deep personal meaning, can be healing and cathartic. Despite this, there is a lack of scholarly insight exploring how tourism can bring peace to people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. A diagnosis is often a traumatic and highly stressful life event for individuals and their loved ones; the unfavourable prognosis can lead individuals to seek solace, comfort, and to leave a legacy of memories with their loved ones. This paper has two aims. Firstly, it explores the contributions of scholarly research into terminal illness and tourism and posits a series of gaps in knowledge that require scholarly attention. Secondly, through website analysis of tourism providers that focus exclusively on the provision of experiences for individuals with a terminal illness, the paper considers how travel is marketed to these individuals. Further, through analysis of testimonials written by individuals with terminal illness and/or their families or carers, this paper considers the nature of experiences that are most meaningful to individuals with a terminal illness. Results illustrate that tourism has an important role in helping individuals with terminal illness find peace through facilitating the creation of positive memories, wish fulfilment, and shared experiences with an individual’s loved ones.