Cross-community tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina: a path to reconciliation?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Memory tourism converting war heritage into tourist capital appears to emerge quickly after violent conflicts. This war tourism has an ambiguous role. On the one hand, it can contribute to a reconciliation process by appeasing the memories related to the conflictual past. Yet, on the other hand, if the message imparted by a particular site emphasizes hardships and divergent interpretations of the past, it has the potential of reinforcing existing tensions. Given this ambiguity, the objective of this article is to contribute to the still underdeveloped literature on the topic and to add to a better understanding of tourism as a way of fostering reconciliation. More precisely, through the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this contribution aims to highlight the scope and limits of memory tourism in the reconciliation process. To answer this question, the work of two NGOs organizing cross-community visits to sites of memory of each group in the conflict is examined. The results suggest that the dividing or reconciling scope of tourism will eventually depend on its interpretation by the individuals concerned; an interpretation itself influenced by host–visitor relationships and the environment in which they take place. Under certain conditions, memory tourism may therefore take an active part in the reconciliation process.