Discrimination and technologies in tourism : applying critical race theory to future studies

Abstract

Technology has been intertwined with hospitality and tourism from the 1940s. Current conversations on technology design, racial politics and ethics are almost absent from the tourism literature although wider technology literature focuses on this. Moreover, these technologies are still associated with the tourism industry and affect the business of practitioners and lives of tourists. This research note proposes the application of critical race theory to unravel these industry occurrences. As a result, technologies in tourism studies will not only focus on efficiency and empowerment but also inclusion, which can further enable an investigation into concepts of justice, equality and equity.