The novel spaces and power-geometries in tourism and hospitality after 2020 will belong to the ‘local’

Abstract

The global crisis we have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency challenges our perception of the global and local context in which we live, travel, and work. This crisis has spread novel uncertainties and fears about the future of our world, but at the same time, it has also set the ground to rethink the future scenario of tourism and hospitality to bring about a potentially positive transformation after 2020. Such a scenario can be understood in light of the work of Doreen Massey and the pivotal theorisations on ‘space’ and ‘power-geometry’ she presented in her book For Space (2005). Massey conceives space as the product of multiple relations, networks, connections, as the dimension of multiplicity, the result of an ongoing making process, and in a mutually constitutive relationship with power. Interweaving Massey’s theorisations with a critical examination of the neoliberal capitalism approach to the conceptualization of space, the COVID-19 global crisis prompts us to rethink the space inside and outside of tourism and hospitality by re-focusing on the local dimension of our space as the only guarantee of our own wellbeing, safety, and security. While the global dimension seems more broken than ever, the urgency of belonging to the local is more and more evident. Hence, we propose a critical reflection on the implications of such a scenario in the space of tourism and hospitality, foreseeing a potentially positive transformation in terms of activation of local relations, networks, connections, and multiplicities able to open up such space to multiple novel functions designed not just for tourists and travelers but also for citizens.

摘要

我们所经历的新型冠状病毒全球流行性疾病突发事件所造成的全球危机, 挑战了我们对我们所生活、旅行和工作的全球和地方环境的认知。这场危机散播了对我们未来世界的新的不确定性和恐惧, 但与此同时, 它也为重新思考旅游接待业未来的前景奠定了基础, 以便在2020年后实现潜在的积极转变。这种前景可以从多琳·马西(Doreen Massey)的工作和她在2005年出版的《空间》(For space)一书中提出的”空间”和”权力几何学”的关键理论中来理解。马西认为空间是多种关系、网络、联系的产物, 是多样性的维度, 是不断创造过程的结果, 具有与权力相互构成的关系。结合马西的理论对新资本主义空间概括的方法进行批判性的考察, 新型冠状病毒全球危机促使我们重新聚焦空间在地层面为自身健康与安全的唯一保证, 进而重新思考旅游接待业的内外空间。尽管全球层面似乎比以往任何时候都更加支离破碎, 但归属于地方的紧迫性却越来越明显。因此,我们提出需要批判性地反思这种前景在旅游接待业空间中的启示, 以预见通过激活当地的关系、网络、连接以及各种多元性以促进发生一个潜在的正向的转型, 不仅为旅游者也为当地居民开辟具有多元创新功能的空间。

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• power-geometry
• power-relations
• tourism and hospitality space
• relational space
• neoliberal capitalism
• local space

关键词:

• 新冠状病毒
• 权力几何学
• 权力关系
• 旅游接待空间
• 关系空间
• 新自由资本主义
• 地方空间

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lucia Tomassini

Dr Lucia Tomassini is research lecturer in Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism at the Academy of International Hospitality Research, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. With a background in Architecture and Urban Planning and an MSc in Urban Development and Reconstruction in developing countries, Lucia is a PhD graduate from the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University (UK). Her academic research embraces studies on the relationship between the tourism and development agenda, social-geography, sustainability and circular economy, small tourism firms committed to an ethical vision of tourism, and uses of narrative analysis in tourism and hospitality studies

Elena Cavagnaro

Dr Elena Cavagnaro is professor of Applied Sciences in Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism at the Academy of International Hospitality Research, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Visiting professor at the University of Bergamo (Italy), Elena has consulted several organizations in sectors such as hospitality, retail, and health care on sustainability strategy and implementation. Her research focuses on issues that connect the social, organizational, and individual layer of sustainability. Her book ‘Three levels of Sustainability’ co-authored with G. Curiel is a bestseller. Her (edited) book ‘Sustainable Value Creation in Hospitality: Guests on Earth’ has been released in April 2018.