The APT dilemma was how to make peace an active, normal part of society?
Peace Trails offer an opportunity to connect diverse peacemakers and to identify places of peace – not only those organizations or locations that have peace gardens or monuments, but also everyday spots and well-known local tourist attractions. The desire and reality was to: (i) show both tourist and vendor that peace concepts can be infused into everyday life; (ii) produce and market the Peace Trails; and (iii) develop and facilitate educational programmes on peace to synergize with the mission of each venue.
In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.
(Baba Dioum, Senegalese poet)
Peace, too, like conservation, needs to be taught – even though we think we know with certainty what peace is. Universal peace values are tinted by culture, and intrinsic peace values can be buried deeply, needing excavation and cross- cultural practical applications. Norton (1991) states in his book, Toward Unity Among Environmentalists,
The environmentalists’ dilemma, which is primarily a dilemma in ultimate values, results in inarticulation when environmentalists discuss, explain, and justify their policies. To the extent that utilitarian and more preservationist approaches are seen as exclusive choices – as opposed rather than complementary values – it follows that I must choose between two inadequate languages to express my indignation [at a girl systematically harvesting hundreds of sand dollars on the beach]. Neither the language of biocentric moralism nor the language of
utilitarianism was adequate to explain and justify my view that the little girl should put most of the sand dollars back.
Similarly, peace is seen as a dichotomy – with one proponent seeing war as a prelude to and keeper of peace, and the other proponent squarely in the anti- war camp (associated with the ‘hippy, peace–love’ movement of the 1960s).
We place these as exclusive choices, opposed to one another, and see peace as only belonging to situations and discussions of conflict or associated with unrealistic ideals and utopian goals. To bring unity to these dichotomies and see peace as a normal way of life, associated with community organizations we hold dear, such as a school or church, and those tourist attractions that are seen as vital to one’s city, such as a zoo or botanical garden, has, to date, not been an option on the table. Peace Trails offer this option. They bring an opportunity to teach peace – to infuse peace concepts into any and every life situation – through domestic tourism. The intent of APT is to affix the label
‘peace’ on schools, bookstores, zoos, and parks, thus bringing a more unified concept of peace to bear not only on discussions about peace, but also on everyday activities. Peace Trails can bridge the gap between past beliefs about peace and future peace norms – bringing peace into our present day and time for grassroots society.
Conclusions
This APT model can be accomplished most anywhere – with a lot of determination, time and enthusiasm. A future extension of these metropolitan Peace Trails is to map Peace Trails linking communities worldwide. The fact that Metro Atlanta could support a community Peace Trail booklet of this kind, unite multiple and diverse peace organizations, build a large network of new civic and private institutions that had never thought to identify themselves with peace – until now – and promote peace to its domestic travellers is encouraging and exciting for the future of metropolitan areas everywhere.
Some of the benefits from APT:
● encourages people to visit places of peace in the city;
● brings people together at grassroots level;
● promotes simple and doable action – plant a Peace Pole or garden;
● infuses the earth with the intention with which the pole was planted;
● fosters healing of conflict;
● creates lasting, international and local friendships through the APT development process; and
● begins to normalize our dichotomist views of peace, opening the door to new ways of infusing peace into societal values.
Most importantly, Peace Trails aim to empower the visitor and resident to claim peace, and take ownership of creating places of peace in their own front yards. It is not too much to dream that every school, church, park, garden and business could one day have a Peace Pole, Peace Garden or Peace Monument on its grounds. The APT goal is 10,000 Peace Poles in Georgia, USA! It may happen sooner than we think.
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9 Effects of the August 2008 War in Georgia on Tourism and its
Resources
M. M
etreveli1and D.J. t
iMothy21Economic Sector and Economic Policy Committee, Parliament of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Introduction
In most instances, war and tourism are incompatible forces, except when the after-effects of war become a tourist attraction. Because tourism is so volatile, being subject to many external forces, and one of people’s primary concerns while travelling is their personal safety, stable political environments and benevolent relations between nations are nearly always required for the successful development of tourism. It is now a well-known fact that travellers seek out places where peace abides and where their personal safety can be best assured. Even whispers of war and political tension send arrivals plummeting, not only in the regions directly affected by conflict but in neighbouring areas as well and throughout the entire world (Mansfeld and Pizam, 2006; Timothy, 2006). For instance, following the tragic terror events of 2001 in the USA, world travel slowed dramatically, even in countries outside the USA and the Middle East.
Not only do political instability and war send arrival numbers plummeting, they have clear and long-lasting, sometimes permanent, effects on a country’s cultural and natural resources, which are often targeted directly for destruction or are innocent casualties of the ongoing battles around them (Timothy and Boyd, 2003). Many examples of this exist, and such was the case in the short- lived Russia–Georgia War, also known as the South Ossetia War of 2008. The aim of this chapter is to describe the events associated with the August 2008 conflict between the Republic of Georgia and Russia and its effects on the natural and cultural tourism resources of Georgia. The chapter provides a case study about many of the devastating effects of war on tourism and suggests future directions for creating more peaceful relations that will be more conducive for developing tourism in the Caucasus.