An ethnographic study of ‘touristic escapism’ and health vulnerability among Dominican male tourism workers

Abstract

Health research on tourism has expanded over the past two decades, focusing on understanding how the social, economic, and political configuration of tourism zones might contribute to health vulnerabilities among the diverse populations that interact in these areas. While there are few studies of HIV and drug use interactions in the region, research has indicated that these two outcomes are often interwoven in tourism zones, potentially producing 'syndemics' of HIV infection and problematic drug use. One framework that has been used in public health research on tourism is one that we refer to as touristic escapism or situational disinhibition that may be heightened for some tourists while on vacation, potentially leading to the abandonment of normative constraints on behaviour and contributing to health risks such as unprotected sex or binge drinking. In this article, we draw upon tourism theory and ethnographic research with male tourism workers employed in two popular tourist areas of the Dominican Republic to explore whether touristic escapism offers insights in understanding health vulnerabilities within tourism spaces.

The HIV epidemic in Colombia: spatial and temporal trends analysis

“…The high incidence of HIV/AIDS and AIDS mortality in the Caribbean and Andean regions are attributed to the status of these regions as main tourist destinations in Colombia. In the Dominican Republic, where tourism is the main contributor to the gross domestic product, the prevalence of HIV is approximately 1% [ 30 ]. Colombia is one of the countries in the world with a high rate of sexual tourism associated with gender and social inequities that exacerbates the HIV epidemic.…”