The Coming Plague of the Fugue and the Blind Tourist?

In this chapter we ask if mass tourism, morphing into over-tourism, can be conceptualised as an emerging plague of zombie tourists, and what kinds of tourism futures might come of it? Overtourism is not only unsustainable; it is the logical outcome of capitalism and thus, a token signifying that the capitalist system is well and alive even though it is threatening everything else on Earth. We outline a drastic narrative of this unsustainable phenomenon, characterizing it as a pathological condition that chisels-out a zombie tourist, well-travelled but at the same time oblivious to the tourist destinations he or she passes through. We further argue that the entrance of social media and digital portable technological devices have increased this pathological state as it has added a self-centric, narcissistic dimension into the set of touristic practices to a degree that the zombie tourist even runs an increased risk of ending up dead. Secondly, we present two bifurcated scenarios presenting possible trajectories for future tourist practice, both less reliant on physical long-distance travelling: the implantation of digital memories in the individual tourist’s mind and consciousness and “staycation” tourism, i.e. short trip close to the home of the tourist. These two more optimistic scenarios bring some relief to the environmental situation generally and the social situation of overtourism already emerging at many destinations. But, at the same time, these two scenarios are nevertheless embedded in a pathological capitalism and are perhaps bound to create new societal and environmental problems, possibly bringing new kinds of unsustainability. Or?