As global competition for Arctic resources intensifies, the Chinese state is increasingly involving itself in the region’s governance. Drawing on a review of policy texts and media reports, complemented by observations at an Arctic conference held in China and three field visits to the Arctic in 2018–2019, I advance knowledge of the politics and processes underlying Chinese tourism in an emerging destination. Specifically, I put mobilities theory, biopolitics and critical geopolitics into a dialogue to show how China is applying biopolitical logics upon its outbound tourist populations while seeking to envision, regulate and extract value from three key forms of tourism resources: tourists, infrastructure and data. Overall, I contribute to a tourism geopolitics that reflects upon how tourism can be a means through which governments may develop resources, exercise authority, and exert power over their own citizens in spaces where they lack territorial sovereignty.

Bio: Benjamin Lucca Iaquinto is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong. His research explores the environmental and political implications of tourism mobilities. He is an Associate Editor of Tourism Geographies and a Steering Committee Member of AusMob, the Australian Mobilities Research Network.