A Hyper-Monster at the Gate: Conceptualising Climate Change in Tourism Studies Through Monster Theory

Filimonau V., SEZEREL H.

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Publication Date: 2026
  • Doi Number: 10.1177/10963480251415228
  • Journal Name: Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, ABI/INFORM, Hospitality & Tourism Complete, Hospitality & Tourism Index, Psycinfo
  • Keywords: climate change, climate justice, critical theory studies, disaster, monster theory
  • Anadolu University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This paper introduces monster theory as a novel theoretical lens to conceptualise climate change within tourism studies. It argues that climate change represents a “hyper-monster,” a vast, systemic entity whose presence reveals the tourism industry’s deepest anxieties and challenges it with an existential crisis. Drawing on the monster theory’s core theses, the paper analyses how climate change embodies societal fears and threatens tourism’s future. It explores how this monster is born of global (in)difference and systematic injustice, controls the boundaries of what is possible for global travel, and paradoxically generates contradictory demands, such as “last chance tourism.” By framing climate change as a hyper-monstrous force, the paper presents a novel analytical framework for tourism and its (un)sustainability in the Anthropocene.