A virtual tour for change: Exploring transformational potential

As we emerge into our third year of the global pandemic, as academics and researchers we continue to strive to meet the evolving needs of our students, our institutions, and our communities. As much as this has been a challenging period for all, there have been numerous responses to the ‘new normal’ that have been celebrated and which we may wish to see continue going forward (c.f. Ateljevic, 2020; Brouder et al., 2020; Hoyt et al., 2021; The Economist, 2021). Universities, students, instructors, and administrators have also had to rapidly adapt to shifting guidelines, online platforms, and growing concerns regarding isolation and mental health (c.f. Mareilli et al., 2021; Mueller et al., 2021; Nuere & de Miguel, 2021). In this short communication, I will discuss the innovative use of virtual tourism in a graduate tourism classroom that at once seeks to transgress the classroom walls, open spaces for dynamic dialogues regarding issues such as tourism and poverty, exploitation, and (post)colonialism, as well as begin the shift towards a broader objective of decolonizing Western notions regarding the nature of ‘knowledge’ at the university. As such, the virtual tool can be understood, at once, as an experience of tourism, of ‘travelling’ to a foreign space, while also used to interrogate tourism pedagogies as well as the broader Western academic project.