Abstract

Keywords:Tourism; Travel essentials; Tourism business; Survival strategies; Modern civilization; Art of survival; Reenactment; Archaeology; Archaeotourism

Introduction

The term survival appeared relatively infrequently in tourism discourse until the Covid-19 pandemic. It was occasionally invoked in reflection on the changing condition of tourist attractions requiring rescue operations. It was used relatively frequently by the authors of a kind of “travel essentials”, e.g. mini language dictionaries, without which, according to their authors, survival in a foreign country is almost impossible. Survival, in its primary meaning, however, started to make a real splash as a key word, commonly present in titles of not only scientific texts, only with the pandemic, when the broadly understood tourism business faced the specter of regression or bankruptcy.

It’s hard to agree with that the disputes of the time about “survival strategies” and “challenges for the survival” somewhat obscured and stunted the possibilities of using survival in its most modernist guise, for after all, Covid-19 presented modern civilization with unique, and clearly survival-related, challenges. Nor is it possible to responsibly reach back to the genesis of man’s particular nurturing of knowledge and practical skills to preserve life in extreme circumstances. Undoubtedly, the catalysts for this phenomenon, although it sounds somewhat euphemistic, were and - unfortunately - remain, numerous military conflicts, natural cataclysms and unpredictable, crotchety life situations. The need to prepare for their dangerous effects has led man to voluntarily place himself in a sometimes artificially created, but generally based on experience, “reality of danger” [1].

The ‘art of survival’ has emerged from the once obvious practical skills, and this, like all arts, has entered the path of its own autonomous development. With no regard for its historical provenance, it has now become the focus of attention of adventurous, challenging and risk-taking individuals (and not just so-called ‘preppers’), filling their free time [2]. The voluntariness, popularity and regular devotion to the art of survival as a form of recreation provide serious grounds for viewing this way of ‘escaping from technisized reality’ as an activity that should absolutely be in the sphere of interest of tourism organizers.

There is a certain restraint in this potential broadening of the spectrum of tourism, which is due to the fact that modern survival has more than one face and it is difficult, for example, to consider specialized military training and strict exercises of all services responsible for our safety as an arena open for everyone to test the strength of their muscles and character. The emerging theoretical reflection on survival techniques as a tourist attraction treats it as a form of “outdoor adventure recreation” or “risk recreation”, less frequently, simply as “qualified tourism”. When it comes to the forms in which they are practiced, parachute jumping, diving, high-altitude climbing, sailing or ballooning, for example, are indicated. They are unquestionably linked by physical activity, contact with nature, and are motivated by the desire to experience adventure and test oneself. Such an understanding of survival, however, is at odds with a characteristic that is essential for it, and which, in a nutshell, can be defined as the ability to cope without or with limited use of all the resources of civilization. Jumping or diving have nothing to do with the “potential” of the modest interior of the so-called survival box or, as J. Wiseman believes, “the contents of your own pockets”.

We believe that voluntary, tourist or recreational survival - if it is to retain its identity - should stick to this general principle of consciously limiting the quantity and quality of the equipment used. It seems that in defining survivalism in this way may be helpful a simple reflection of historical nature. Here, the American archaeologist John J. Shea popularized the term “survival archaeology”, conceived as a tool to learn about the art of survival practiced by Neanderthals (who lived between 250 000 and 45 000 years ago) and earlier hominins, constantly and on a scale difficult for us to imagine, exposed to all manner of dangers. Our distant ancestors must have mastered techniques for starting and controlling fire, coped with water and disease, avoided hyper/ hypothermia, made simple tools, prepared shelter, communicated, etc. Learning how they did this is, according to Shea JJ, a major problem, as modern civilization faces enormous challenges related, for example, to the hard-to-predict consequences of climate change [3]. Experimental archaeology is helping to answer these key questions but must always be accompanied by the conviction that the knowledge gained through experience is likely to be used in the future.

My aim is not to promote “survival archaeology”, which should probably be considered the purest and most rigorous form of the art of survival. The idea merely points to a certain trail, a hint as to how to develop “historical survival” in a rational and legitimate way. It seems that an excellent not so much niche, but rather a natural space for it, is historical reconstruction. It proposes a kind of time travel, which teaches the ability to cope with conditions different from normal, and almost identical to those highlighted by Shea JJ. After all, it was not until the industrial revolution of the late 18th/early 19th century that significant changes were brought about in terms of people’s everyday life in the broadest sense. In view of this, the potential for historical reenactment is much greater/wider than reconstructing prehistory alone [4].

The opportunities of historical re-enactment are taken full advantage of, especially by archaeotourism, but also it is in vain to point to cultural tourism events/attractions that do not benefit from the possibility of the most spectacular form of talking about and experiencing the wider past. Cultural tourism lives in a permanent symbiosis with historical reconstruction. If survival is added to this alliance, a logical, coherent, one might say threedimensional tourist attraction emerges [5]. It is easy to identify its important educational and educational goals for participants and observers. However, the re-enactors must be fully aware of their dual role as experts in the past and as promoters of the principles of survival. The spectators, on the other hand, should be open to absorbing not only historical knowledge, but also be aware that they are learning old survival techniques [6]. Obviously, in this interaction there is also recreation, contact with nature, adventure, a certain amount of risk (in the case of experimental archaeology), opportunities to verify one’s own capabilities, escape from routine, excitement and, finally, mutual satisfaction!

References

1. Czech Survival Guide (2025).
2. Mathew R, Swain SK, Sahoo SS (2022) Rebuilding Resilient Tourism Industry in Odisha: A Study on Revival and Survival Strategies in the Covid-19 Era. In: Mohanty P, Sharma A (), The Emerald Handbook of Destination Recovery in Tourism and Hospitality, pp. 249-263.
3. Kumar PB (2022) Survival Strategies of Tourism Industry in Times of Covid-19 Pandemic: A study of Selected Tourist Enterprises in Kerala. Journal of Tourism 33.
4. Płoskonka P (2015) Survival as a Form of Tourist and Recreational Activity- A Synthesis of the Phenomenon. Scientific Papers of the WSB University in Wroclaw 15(6): 751-763.
5. Wiseman J (1986) The SAS Survival Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere. New York, London, UK.
6. Shea JJ (2020) Survival archaeology: a New Agenda for Prehistory’s Latin American Antiquity, pp. 17-20.