Experience of Arab/Muslim women visiting relatives in the West and the management of stigma by association

Abstract

Stigma is a well-established concept in the social sciences. It has recently found resonance in tourist studies. Stigma is a social-psychological condition that can be discrediting. This paper introduces stigma management in tourism studies and describes a set of stigma management strategies deployed by veiled and non-veiled Arab/ Muslim women visiting relatives in Western countries where immigration is perceived to be a problem. These tourists straddle two stigmas at the destination –immigrant stigma and religious stigma, and associated stereotypes. Stigmatized tourists react differently to stigma and try to overcome stigma in different ways. A variety of stigma management strategies have been discerned and further discussed. A focus on stigma opens up new avenues for research on cross-cultural studies in contemporary tourism