Exploring tourism’s potential in promoting peace: the role of personal contact

Abstract

Tourism is frequently portrayed as a catalyst for intercultural understanding and peace, yet empirical evidence remains inconclusive. While some studies highlight tourism’s potential to reduce prejudice and foster harmony through interpersonal contact, others question whether tourism actively promotes peace or merely benefits from its presence. This study examines the role of personal contact in advancing intercultural understanding within the peace-through-tourism framework. Data were collected from 1,300 visitors to the Canary Islands through a two-wave longitudinal design: pretrip and posttrip surveys. Bayesian mixed effects models were employed to capture temporal changes in satisfaction and attitudes while accounting for individual heterogeneity. Results reveal that both the type and quality of contact significantly influence tourist satisfaction and attitude change, with negative encounters exerting disproportionately stronger effects than positive ones. These findings offer theoretical insights into contact-mediated mechanisms and practical implications for leveraging tourism as a tool for promoting positive peace.