Evelyn Barlow, Rajesh Nautiyal, Theres Winter
In today’s world, digital channels play a crucial role in boosting tourism numbers and supporting the economic resilience of destinations. However, more recently, digital campaigns have been employed to boycott tourism destinations, leaving negative impacts on tourist arrivals and revenues. Through this research, we aim to critically examine the phenomenon of digital tourism boycotts. Using a qualitative thematic analysis of Facebook posts and Twitter/X Tweets, we analyse how the #BoycottMaldives movement has been reframed in a digital environment as a shared ethical obligation among Indian citizens to cancel travel to the Maldives due to diplomatic tensions following the Indian PM's promotion of Lakshadweep (India) for domestic tourism in 2024. Three key dimensions, namely collective forces, symbolic mediation, and individual expressions, have been identified and presented through a model that illustrates a dynamic and recursive system in which these three dimensions are deeply interwoven in the mobilisation of digital tourism boycott movements.