Has Tourism overlived its usefulness?

In recent years, residents of numerous popular destinations have become increasingly vocal in expressing their concerns about the negative effects associated with tourism’s rapid and uncontrolled growth. Terms such as “overtourism”, “tourism-related gentrification”, and “touristification” have entered the dictionary and are associated with the results of the dominance of a neoliberal policy environment. During the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fact that the global tourism industry came to a virtual standstill, led many observers to optimistically ponder whether the time had come to reconsider tourism’s future role. Unfortunately, despite this (perhaps) misplaced optimism, recent trends in many destinations indicate that tourism is, once more, growing rapidly and the same effects that were observed before the pandemic are reappearing at an alarming rate. In this lecture, I make the argument that we should begin to reconceptualize tourism’s role. The point made is that the dynamics of tourism should be assessed from the point of view of host communities and what the sector means to their inhabitants. The aim of any community is to enhance its livability, ensure that its inhabitants have, among others, good opportunities to gain meaningful employment, affordable housing, and a healthy environment. Tourism’s role should primarily be focused on enhancing these opportunities, while the challenge is to shift policymakers and other stakeholders’ attitude on tourism's role.

Speaker

ISA Visiting Fellow - Dimitri Ioannides

Mittuniversitetet-Mid Sweden University

Visit Prof. Ioannides' web page

PhD students and researchers who are interested may request an attendance certificate by writing to segreteria.isa@unibo.it specifying their birthplace and date of birth.

The delivery of the attendance certificate requires the attendance of at least 70% of the lecture.