Digital maps and occupation: How tourism platforms navigate the Western Sahara conflict
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2025-06-25
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en
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Cartopolitics teach us that maps shape how we view the world because they are continuously unchallenged. Nowadays, digital maps become more and more popular for commercial use and I argue that especially within the tourism industry they have become an important tool for visual representation of holidays and thus providing opportunities for normalization of imperialist structures. The Western Sahara, being subjected to Moroccan colonialism, is such a case. Vacations in Dakhla are being advertised as a ‘Robinson Crusoe’ experience by the Moroccan government whilst the Western Sahara conflict remains unresolved. This study uncovers how cartographic representation of the Western Sahara area on large tourism platforms contributes to normalization and internalization of Moroccan sovereignty over the land. The findings suggest that cartographic visualization indeed favor the Moroccan narrative. Website visitors uninformed on the geopolitical topic of the Western Sahara believe the area to be Moroccan. Knowledgeability on the matter however appears to shift the narrative towards a view where the Western Sahara is viewed as a separate country as opposed to part of Morocco.
Keywords: Cartopolitics, tourism, Western Sahara, neocartography.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen