A middle eastern oasis where mass tourism obscures urban spaces and social justice

This article examines the repercussions of mass tourism, which reorganize urban spaces to the detriment of less advantaged residents in the arid city of Yazd, Iran. Tourism boomed after Yazd was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site on the grounds that Yazd still enjoys the continuation of traditional community. However, tourism paradoxically displaces the same community from their traditional space by commandeering their houses, transforming their authentic environment, and eroding their social and ecological integrity. This outmigration follows a domino-like mechanism, wherein the government’s restoration and tourism policies lead to an influx of investments in both the tourism and housing sectors, driving up living costs to the extent that local residents are inclined to relocate to more affordable neighborhoods. The commodification of Yazd’s cultural landscape gives rise to the accumulation of capital in the tourism sector, which increasingly widens the gap between the upper and lower social classes. The re-investment of this capital fattens the housing mafia, conducive to intensive gentrification. This article concludes that Yazd’s current model of tourism development risks undermining the sustainability of tourism itself, while issues of social justice remain in the blind spot of policymakers.