Tourism and peace are much more connected than most people realize. Every trip has the potential to be more than just a stamp in a passport or a post on social media; it can be a direct act of peacebuilding. When young people step outside of their comfort zones and choose to engage with local communities rather than overlook them, we begin to see ourselves not only as visitors but as future peacekeepers. Sustainable travel allows us to recognize the power of local voices, to understand how deeply community well-being is tied to global peace, and to realize that education doesn’t just happen in classrooms. This is the way our generation can educate ourselves differently, carrying forward the responsibility to live as global citizens and empower others to do the same. I began to understand this on a personal level during the past three years of my undergraduate journey, where every trip and encounter brought me closer to becoming a peacekeeper.
As a Global Studies major at Long Island University, I've been beyond fortunate enough to study in Costa Rica, Italy, Austria, Australia, and Bali. I'm Camryn Cooney, born and raised on Long Island, NY. Growing up, my life was fairly sheltered from the pressing issues of the world around me. I was brought up in a Catholic household, and the conservative values of my social environment consumed my worldview for most of my life. It wasn't until around 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the pressing political climate of the U.S., that I finally felt able to form my own opinions about such issues. From then on, I knew that a change in scenery, culture, language, and perspective was necessary for me to dismantle the stigmas and biases that were instilled in my mind. Costa Rica was the first place where this commitment to going outside of my comfort zone began to take shape.
I made my first friend internationally while doing a language exchange at a local cafe in San José with university students eager to learn English, and I Spanish. I was nervous at first, not knowing if we’d have anything in common and if awkward silences would creep in and consume the experience. Within the first few minutes of my first exchange with Gabrielle, a girl my age who grew up in the area, we immediately started fangirling over the same artists and TV shows, and connecting our similar familial upbringings. Despite the language barrier, we shared our experiences of what it’s like to live in our home countries, surprising each other with what we thought were the most commonly known details. Our friendship continued to blossom over the entirety of my time in Costa Rica, and it was through Gabrielle that I learned about the toxic consequences the local communities were facing from internationally run pineapple plantations and how her family's water supply was directly affected. This was my first hint of how local voices can reveal incredible truths that global narratives intentionally hide, and by the time I reached Australia, I found myself having very similar conversations.
Along the Gold Coast, I had the opportunity to go on many camping trips with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Most discussions centered around the erasure of First Nations identity and culture in their rightful land, and I was encouraged to go back to New York with this same lens. I realized then that I had never, in any history or school class, learned about the presence of Native American nations in my own state, a place I had forever deemed my ‘rightful home’. Returning to New York that summer, I knew I now had an important responsibility: to empower others in my family and community to make the effort of educating themselves on such issues, or to even just prioritize visiting Native American-run businesses and museums.
That same year, I stayed with a family in Waitabu village, Fiji, whose home was only inches away from being destroyed by rising sea levels due to climate change. The entire village was actively preparing to make a big move miles uphill, with resources they scarcely had available. Seeing firsthand how the places that contribute the least to climate change are often the first to suffer its harshest consequences hit me like a ton of bricks. I left for my next location thinking a bit less about small and local solutions to such overwhelming global issues and more about the bigger systems behind them, how institutions respond to crises, and how much politics shapes the solutions we’re given.
It wasn't until my time in Austria that I began learning more about the worldwide peacekeeping organizations that tackle these issues daily. I learned about the inner workings of the UN and how many social and political aspects go into effective and fair city planning. This semester directed me to the path I’m on now, back in Vienna, interning at the International Institute for Peace. Looking back, I realize that my greatest lessons came less from classrooms and more from the people, places, and lived experiences along the way. We can keep up with the news, read textbooks, and empathize over social media all we can, but it's only once you travel outside your comfort zone that you'll see the side of history and pressing world issues that media often miscommunicates.
Traveling can absolutely be a peacebuilder between nations, but only when done without any active harm to the country being visited. Irresponsible tourism can lead to the harming of local ecosystems, misrepresentation or exploitation of culture, and can aid in perpetuating harmful stigmas. The clearest first-hand example of this was while I was on a research trip in Bali, one of the most tourist-centered provinces in the world. Travel there is inexpensive for visitors, which makes it easy to take advantage of the island without giving back to the community, especially when tourists choose large corporate resorts and hotels over locally run businesses. When I went out with local friends, they showed me the parts of Bali that ads and brochures ignore, their hometowns with waste piling up along everyday streets, worsening year by year. Ironically, yet unsurprisingly, most of that waste comes from tourists themselves, though it’s of course hidden from the most popular and photographed areas. To be a sustainable and peacebuilding tourist means to actively think about the community around you and how it will be affected by your visit. Before your next trip, be sure to look into hotels, restaurants, and activities that are locally run and operated. Sustainable tourism will ensure that you're not only empowering the communities you’re visiting, but will also bring you closer to the true culture and perspectives of that place.
Traveling sustainably opens endless doors to show you a side of reality that is often mistold or flat-out erased and will truly connect you with people from nations all over the world, finding commonalities in the simplest of ways. All of these experiences, listening to local voices, confronting global injustices, and choosing to travel responsibly, have shaped me into a peacebuilder. Because at its core, peacebuilding is about bridging divides, amplifying voices that are too often silenced, and carrying those lessons back into our own communities. This is exactly where the PATHS2PEACE project comes in.
PATHS2PEACE is a grassroots Erasmus+ initiative, partnered with the IIP and other peacebuilding organizations, that reimagines tourism as a force for peace. More than just a simple project, P2P is a youth-powered movement using community tourism as a tool for peacebuilding, social healing, and real-world change. The movement empowers young people, especially those from conflict-affected or socially divided regions, to lead local and global efforts in fostering understanding, connection, and purpose through tourism.
Through workshops, mentorship opportunities, and international exchanges, people ages 18-30 are encouraged to share their own stories, learn from others, and design tourism-for-peace initiatives that can be implemented in their home communities. P2P also features creative collaborations, such as art, storytelling, and even a peacebuilding hackathon, providing young changemakers with a space to experiment with their own personal passions and explore how these can contribute to sustainable peace.
What really makes P2P so powerful is its commitment to transforming personal encounters into collective solutions. Instead of treating travel as a purely individual experience, the project emphasizes that every journey can become part of a shared pathway toward greater global understanding and cooperation. By linking tourism with intercultural learning, youth empowerment, and grassroots action, PATHS2PEACE shows how mindful travel can do more than broaden one person's horizons; it can build global bridges, amplify youth voices, and inspire new models for peaceful coexistence.
If you’re curious about how travel and tourism can become tools for peace, or are interested in connecting with other young people who share the same passion for building a more just and sustainable world, PATHS2PEACE is the perfect place to start!
Learn more about the project and how you can be part of this peacebuilding journey here: https://www.iipvienna.com/iip-what-is-paths-to-peace
Camryn Cooney
Project Assistant
International Institute for Peace (IIP)
Möllwaldplatz 5, Top 7
1040 Vienna, Austria