Reconnecting tourism after COVID-19: the paradox of alterity in tourism areas

Abstract

One of the transformations induced by the almost complete halt of tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a turning of the tourism sectors to a greater orientation towards their host communities. The enclavic tendencies of tourism areas, along with a multilayered approach to alterity gives insight into ongoing changes in the Quebec, Canada, tourism industry that have been enhanced by the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes points to a relinking of tourism to the needs of the host communities as part of a survival strategy in a time when there are no tourists, and could become, in the long run, a resilience strategy. On the other hand, there is a possibility of a reinforcement of the alterity and a further delinking of tourism in a “6 foot-tourism world” where sanitary safety would be at the core of a closed and controlled tourism development.

摘要

由于新冠肺炎疫情在全球广泛传播, 造成旅游业几乎完全停摆。它所带来的一个转变是, 旅游部门转向更重视其所在社区。旅游区的飞地化倾向, 以及对疫情变化的多层次研究, 使我们能够洞察到加拿大魁北克省旅游业正在发生的变化, 这些变化因新冠肺炎疫情大流行而加剧。这些变化表明, 在一个没有游客的时代, 旅游业需要重新适应当地社区的需求, 这是旅游业生存战略的一部分, 从长远来看, 可能会成为一种弹性战略。另一方面, 疫情有可能进一步切断旅游业的联系, 并重建人们”6英尺旅游生活世界”, 而公共卫生安全将是这种封闭和受控制旅游发展的核心。

Keywords:

• Alterity
• enclave
• territories
• Canada
• COVID-19

关键词:

• 相异性
• 飞地
• 领土
• 加拿大
• 新型冠状病毒（COVID-19）

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dominic Lapointe

Dominic Lapointe is a professor in the Department of Urban and Tourism Studies at Université du Québec à Montréal. He holds the Chaire de recherche sur les dynamiques touristiques et les relations socioterritoriales and leaders of the Groupe de recherche et d’intervention tourisme territoire et société (GRITTS) at UQAM. His work explores the production of tourism space and its role in the capitalist system expansion and its biopolitical dimensions. Its latest research look at climate change, social innovations, indigeneity and critical perspective in tourism studies.