IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2023i1p79-d1304556.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Space Tourism: A Historical and Existential Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Schweinsberg

    (UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia)

  • David Fennell

    (Department of Geography & Tourism Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada)

Abstract

The growth of space tourism over recent decades has led to calls to formalise its ethical positioning and sustainability credentials in the eyes of society. With tourism ethics frameworks typically developing according to human-centred viewpoints, how might we develop ethical reference points for future space tourism when technological innovation progresses to the extent where we are exploring the unknown? To explore the unknown, we have conducted a colonial reflection on the behaviour and attitudes of Captain James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour when they visited Australia in 1770. From a methodological perspective, we have drawn on extracts from the voyage journals, examining the information that they provide through the lens of existentialism. Through this examination we explore some of the challenges that future space tourists might face being authentic to themselves when exploring the unknown. This includes the challenges in avoiding ‘bad faith’ in our dealings with other life-forms and the abdication of our own personal responsibility to act in a manner which is ethical.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Schweinsberg & David Fennell, 2023. "Space Tourism: A Historical and Existential Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:79-:d:1304556
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/79/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/1/79/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martha Friel, 2020. "Tourism as a driver in the space economy: new products for intrepid travellers," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(13), pages 1581-1586, July.
    2. Carl Rhodes & Iain Munro & Torkild Thanem & Alison Pullen, 2020. "Dissensus! Radical Democracy and Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(4), pages 627-632, July.
    3. Andrew West, 2008. "Sartrean Existentialism and Ethical Decision-Making in Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 15-25, August.
    4. Spector, Sam & Higham, James E.S., 2019. "Space tourism in the Anthropocene," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Heesup Han & Wei Quan & Linda Heejung Lho & Jongsik Yu, 2020. "Eco-Design of Airport Buildings and Customer Responses and Behaviors: Uncovering the Role of Biospheric Value, Reputation, and Subjective Well-Being," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Gazi Islam & Roberta Sferrazzo, 2022. "Workers' Rites: Ritual Mediations and the Tensions of New Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 284-318, March.
    3. Chad Kleist, 2013. "Using Sartre’s Critique of Dialectical Reason for Managerial Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 341-352, January.
    4. Helet Botha & R. Edward Freeman, 2023. "Existentialist Perspectives on the Problem and Prevention of Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 499-511, July.
    5. Yize Wu & Kang-Lin Peng & Yijing Yao & Yanping Guo, 2024. "Sustainable Space Travel: What Can We Do in Education from Economic and Environmental Perspectives?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-24, January.
    6. Tregidga, Helen & Milne, Markus J., 2022. "Not at our table: Stakeholder exclusion and ant/agonistic engagements," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Schweinsberg, Stephen & Fennell, David & Hassanli, Najmeh, 2021. "Academic dissent in a post COVID-19 world," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    8. Martina Pásková & Nicol Budinská & Josef Zelenka, 2021. "Astrotourism–Exceeding Limits of the Earth and Tourism Definitions?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-25, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2023:i:1:p:79-:d:1304556. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.