1Neoliberalism has long since ceased to be a neologism. However, its indiscriminate use as a concept has led to doubts about what it refers to.

2For Dardot and Laval (2016, p. 17), neoliberalism has become the reason for contemporary capitalism and can be understood as “the set of discourses, practices and devices that determine a new way of governing men according to the universal principle of competition”. According to the authors, neoliberalism doesn't just refer to the economic policies of austerity or the dictatorship of the financial market, but is in fact “a political rationality that has become global and consists of governments imposing the logic of capital on the economy, society and the state itself, until it becomes the form of subjectivities and the norm of existences” (Dardot and Laval, 2019, p. 5).

3Thinking about neoliberalism from its spatial dimension, Milton Santos and Maria Laura Silveira (2001, p. 302) state that “neoliberalism brings about important changes in the use of the territory, making this use more selective than before and thus punishing the poorest, most isolated, most dispersed and most distant populations from the major centers and productive centers”. This is due, among other reasons, to the fact that neoliberalism “leads to greater selectivity in the geographical distribution of providers of goods and services” (Santos and Silveira, 2001, p. 302), which, due to competitiveness, are led to seek out the most favorable locations.

4Although there are differences between different approaches to neoliberalism, there is a certain consensus that the “neoliberal turn” in political-economic practices and thinking occurred from the 1970s onwards, involving “deregulation, privatization and the withdrawal of the state from many areas of social provision” (Harvey, 2005, p. 2).

5By making privatization, deregulation and deregulation strategies permeable, neoliberal ideology has, according to Wallingre (2017), had an intense impact on the territories of emerging countries, “particularly through industrial, business and service relocations (such as tourism)”. In addition, the author points to the “incidence of the so-called real estate and financial bubbles (in which tourism plays a major role)” (Wallingre, 2017, p. 32).

6From a perspective also based on the existence of economic asymmetries on a global scale, Boden (2011, p. 83) states that neoliberalism has had a profound impact on the Global South, “increasing levels of inequality and poverty” as well as “new forms of accumulation through dispossession” and “the increase in the power of financial capital at both national and international levels”. This perspective is in line with Brenner, Peck and Theodore (2010), who point to the “uneven and varied nature” of the processes involved in the spread of neoliberalism around the world, and that of Harvey (2005), according to whom neoliberalism contributes to uneven geographical development.

7Despite its common characteristics, the advance of neoliberalism has shown, according to various authors, the existence of differences in the way it is realized, considering national, regional and local particularities.

8This dossier was therefore originally driven by the central idea that the capitalist mode of production dialectically produces tensions between global structural processes and local and regional dynamics. These tensions manifest themselves beyond economics and politics, through social and territorial repercussions that are still little studied, especially in relation to tourism. As Jan Mosedale (2016) states, despite tourism being an activity profoundly shaped by neoliberalism, the consequences of neoliberalization on the activity are still relatively under-explored.

9That said, the set of articles that make up this dossier aims to contribute to minimizing this gap in the production of reflections on the relationship between neoliberalism and tourism in the Global South, which has been little studied from this perspective.

10The dossier features 11 articles that adopt different spatial and geographical scales, looking at the cases of two South American and African countries. Neoliberalism is the backdrop for discussing topics such as the political system and public tourism policies, the platformization of tourism, violence and the production of tourist space, community tourism, responsible tourism and the production of knowledge.

11The article entitled The Political Economy of Tourism in Brazil (2003-2016): a “Positive” yet still Neoliberal Agenda? by Thiago Pimentel (Univ. Fed. de Juiz de Fora - UFJF), Mariana Pimentel (UFJF), Marcela Oliveira (UFJF) and Dominic Lapointe (Univ. du Québec à Montréal - UQAM), addresses the macro-structural, social and political factors that resulted in the expansion of tourism (massive and concentrated) during the governments of the Workers' Parties (PT) of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2006; 2007-2010) and Dilma Rousseff (2011-2014; 2015-2016).

12Looking specifically at President Lula's first two terms in office, the article Tourism Public Policies in Brazil (2003-2011): between Neoliberalism and Neodevelopmentalism, by Larissa Rodrigues (Univ. de São Paulo - USP), Cristiane Santos (Univ. Fed. de Sergipe - UFS) and Antonio Campos (UFS), analyzes the national plans and tourism programs implemented by a left-wing government that did not break with the neoliberal principles.

13In the article The Radicalization of Neoliberalism in Brazil and the Role of the Ministry of Tourism in Coalition Presidentialism, Carolina Todesco (Univ. Fed. do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN) and Rodrigo Silva (Instituto Federal de Brasília - IFB) reveal how Brazil's official tourism agency was useful to the political system of ultra-liberal governments between 2016 and 2022.

14Rita Cruz (USP), Cristina Araujo (Univ. Fed. de Pernambuco - UFPE) and Luciano Abreu (Univ. Fed. Rural do Rio de Janeiro - UFRRJ), in the article In the Plots of Neoliberalism: the Impact of AirBnb on Hotel Industry and the Real Estate Market in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, analyze the impacts of the recent expansion of the AirBnb platform on the hotel market and the real estate market in the two largest Brazilian metropolises, covering the period 2021-2024.

15Lucas Catsossa (Univ. de Púnguè), Bruno Campos (Univ. do Oeste do Paraná - Unioeste) and Edvaldo Moretti (Univ. Fed. da Grande Dourados - UFGD), in Neoliberalism Violence in the Production of Tourist Spaces: A Perspective from Macaneta Beach – Mozambique, highlight the territorial segregation and subordination of the local population to international economic groups in the tourism sector that appropriate Mozambique's coastline, in the specific case of this study, Macaneta Beach, reproducing different forms of violence and violations.

16The authors Andreia Martins (Univ. of Coimbra - UC) and Claudete Moreira (UC), in Tourism or sustainable tourism in the Global South? Perspectives from Guinea Bissau, investigate the perceptions and expectations of the actors involved and interested in the development of tourism in Guinea Bissau and identify the problems that make it difficult to move towards responsible tourism. (forthcoming text)

17Based on the analysis of afrotourism initiatives, in the article Afrotourism in Brazilian World Heritage sites: challenges and opportunities emphasising a decolonial narrative, Ana Fernandes (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas - PUC) and Gabrielle Cifelli (Faculdade de Tecnologia de Itu) reflect on how tourism can be an important vector for consolidating a decolonial narrative of identity and a sense of belonging for the black population.

18In the article entitled Community-based tourism in the context of the neoliberal paradigm: counter-hegemonic initiatives and land disputes in northeastern Brazil, Ilana Kiyotani (Univ. Fed. da Paraíba - UFPB), Wagner Costa (Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - IFRN) and Maria Fonseca (UFRN) focus on three community-based tourism initiatives in the state of Paraíba, which according to the authors constitute a counter-hegemonic movement of resistance in defense of the collective interests of traditional communities.

19From a different perspective, addressing an Argentine case, Triana Attanasio (Univ. Nacional de San Martín - UNSAM), in her article Community Based Tourism in the Neoliberal City? Reflections from a “slum area” in Buenos Aires, criticizes the results of a government program in the area of urban community tourism, implemented in the Rodrigo Bueno neighborhood, which has had its image stigmatized and the production of space co-opted by external agents.

20Maria Canal (Federal University of Pará), Elcivânia Barreto (Federal Institute of Pará) and Milene Castro (Federal University of Pará), in Cultural heritage and flexibilization of touristic production in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, analyse the use of Amazonian cultural heritage based on the deepening of “institutional commodification” based on public-private partnerships.

21Finally, Gabriel Comparato (Universidad Argentina de la Empresa and Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata - UNLP) and Florencia Moscoso (UNLP), in the article Academic Dependency and Neoliberalism: Emerging Trends in Tourism Studies from a Latin American Lens, reflect on how tourism studies are thought of and conducted from a Latin American perspective and the power dynamics at play.