Questioning the potential of tourism-related imagined contact in improving interethnic relations in Türkiye

Abstract

With three experimental studies, we used the imagined contact hypothesis to investigate the efficiency of tourist-host contacts in promoting positive interethnic attitudes in Türkiye. Participants (ethnic Turks) were asked to envision themselves as tourists, interacting with a local minority member (either a Kurd or an Armenian) in the imagined destination place. We manipulated three variables: contact type (standard vs. friendship-fostering contact), tourism form (domestic vs. international), and tourist-host hierarchy. Study 1 (N = 261) and Study 3 (N = 284) examined attitudes toward Kurds, whereas Study 2 (N = 324) focused on views toward Armenians. An imagined interethnic contact with friendship potential in the domestic tourism setting (compared to an imagined trip without contact) produced higher approach intentions toward Kurds and Armenians, greater support for multiculturalism, and more positive affect toward Armenians. Surprisingly, when tourism-related imagined interactions were hierarchical (i.e., tourist-service personnel interaction) rather than egalitarian (i.e., tourist–resident interaction), they elicited more support for multiculturalism and higher approach intentions toward Kurds. Based on our findings, we propose tourism-based imagined contact as a novel intervention technique for promoting more harmonious interethnic relations, particularly by incorporating friendship potential.