INDIA -Participants of an international consultation on “Theology of tourism” have urged churches and theological institutions around the world to analyze and critique unjust tourism structures and practices prevailing in the world.

The consultation, called them to critique tourism from the point of view of the subaltern and subsistence communities, indigenous people, women and children, the displaced and others on the margin, applying the Kingdom values of equality and equity.

Twenty two participants from Zambia, Switzerland, Philippines, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Australia and India, attended the 22-28 November consultation organized in Kolkata by the Senate of Serampore (University) with the help of people and groups concerned about the negative impact of tourism.

Caesar D’Mello, former director of Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism and one of the organizers of the consultation said that among the objectives of the consultation was to prepare and finalize a tourism curriculum that stimulated students to engage in transformative tourism that was formulated from the vantage point of the marginalized, such as subsistence communities, indigenous people, women and children. This will be a significant, long-lasting contribution to the teaching of theology in the Asian and worldwide church, he noted.

Another objective of the consultation was to bring out a theological resource book that would provide a basis for theological exploration into tourism for theological students, teachers and curriculum planners.

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