End-of-life hospitality? A preamble for supply-side notions of suicide tourism

Purpose: Suicide tourism has existed for several decades in countries such as Switzerland, allowing inbound tourists to seek death with dignity. The growth of suicide tourism has not gone unnoticed, with an emerging body of work unpacking this phenomenon, its underpinning factors, and its controversies. At present, most work surrounding suicide tourism is located within a demand-driven perspective, with very little known about how end-of-life hospitality should be conceptualized.

Methods: Using the case of global destinations where recent policy changes have allowed for euthanasia, this article presents different dimensions for end-of-life hospitality, to guide current and future research directions toward a more nuanced understanding of the supply-side perspectives associated with suicide tourism.

Results: A conceptual framework on end-of-life hospitality is proposed, where different stakeholders and decisions related to such an undertaking are identified and discussed.

Implications: End-of-life hospitality necessitates a timely and coordinated approach to its undertaking, as there is still a significant variation of medically assisted dying globally. Having an integrated and systematic framing of the issues and stakeholders mitigates the likelihood of misuses and abuses of end-of-life experiences and enables all participants to have the necessary assurances to make informed decisions.