The paradox of inhospita(bi)lity: tourism mobilities across deserts and other planets

This article proposes inhospita(bi)lity as a conceptual lens for tourism mobilities in the Anthropocene, examining how environments framed as uninhabitable—deserts, polar regions, and other planetary terrains—are discursively reframed as desirable destinations. Through textual and visual analysis, the article demonstrates how inhospita(bi)lity shifts from deterrence and absence to aesthetic value, symbolic capital, and experiential privilege. Case studies include the 2023/2025 Most Inhospitable Travel Destinations report, archival footage, and the 2023 #ExperienceJordAIn campaign, illustrating a convergence of terrestrial and extraterrestrial imaginaries in which the inhospitable becomes spectacle and commodity. A two-level framework is proposed: inhospita(bi)lity denotes environmental–spatial constraints in human mobility, while in meta-tourism mobility it captures their discursive inversion into attraction. In the Anthropocene, this functions as a cultural mediator between planetary fragility and tourist desire, supporting a new tourism logic that converts habitability limits into imaginative frontiers for privileged experiences.