Social mobility goes on holiday: rethinking space and communities through tourism mobilities

Abstract

The evolution of tourism mobilities and their interactions with place have always comprised of ambiguous change dimensions relative to the social, spatial, and socio-spatial mobility of both guest and host communities alike. While different forms of tourism can offer opportunities for empowerment, they can also limit opportunities in ways that are unevenly distributed throughout the social spectrum. The aim of this opening to the special issue is to critically explore the different spheres in which social and spatial mobilities are enacted, reproduced, challenged, and negotiated in the context of the sub-discipline of tourism geographies. It considers multiple perspectives, while focusing on how ‘social mobility goes on holiday’ in three different spheres: (1) consumer societies, (2) regimented mobilities, and (3) empowerment through tourism, making specific reference to gender issues. Against this backdrop, emerging themes are discussed with reference to the entanglement of contemporary crises, and the societal and spatial im/mobilisations of subaltern communities, refugees, lifestyle migrants and local collectives. In this way, the frameworks proposed in this special issue help to analyse current societal and spatial challenges, and offer comprehensive answers through processes of theorisation and empirical interaction.

Keywords:

• Tourism mobilities
• social mobility
• place performance
• mobility justice
• post-pandemic transition

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Marco d’Eramo, Diane P. Koenker and Stroma Cole, who served as keynote speakers in the ATLAS Special Interest Group ‘Space Place Mobilities in Tourism’ international seminar, entitled ‘Social Mobility Goes on Holiday: Tourist Im/mobilities, Conflicts and Empowerment’, held on May 27-28, 2021. The international seminar was conceived by the two authors together with their colleague Federica Letizia Cavallo (1973 – 2023), who passed away before this introductory article was written and completed. The Authors would like to pay tribute to their beloved, passionate and extremely generous colleague and to acknowledge Federica’s creative contribution to this article despite her absence.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work of A.P. Russo on this paper has received funding through the Horizon 2020 program of the European Union (SMARTDEST project, n. 870753) and the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation (MCI N/AEI /10.13039/ 501100011033, ADAPTOUR project n. PID2020- 112525RB-I00).

Notes on contributors

Antonio Paolo Russo

Antonio Paolo Russo is professor of urban geography and Serra Húnter Fellow with the Department of Geography, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Vila-Seca, Spain). He is the coordinator of the PhD program in Tourism and Leisure at URV. His research and teaching focuses on destination management, tourism geography, urban studies and mobilities.

Chiara Rabbiosi

Chiara Rabbiosi is an associate professor in economic and political geography at the University of Padova (Italy). Her latest research work deals with performative approaches to tourism mobilities, cultural heritage and place branding; tourism and ordinary geopolitics; mobilities and pedagogy.