Dans le cadre de la quatrième conférence des Sociétés de Géographie (EUGEO 2013) qui sera organisée à Rome les 5-7 septembre 2013, nous proposons une session spéciale qui analysera les relations entre tourisme et récession économique.

Economic recession: interpretations, performances and reifications in the tourism domain

Argument

One of the most visible phenomena brought about by late capitalism is the increasingly pivotal role of tourism in the economic and cultural life of places. The global demand for tourism has been also consistently increasing. Assuming that tourism is one of the most sensitive sectors in terms of susceptibility to crises on the short and medium term, it is interesting to unveil how current global economic recession and tourism intersect and influence each other.   

The session will particularly question how topics related to economic recession are interpreted, performed and reified by a variety of actors in the European tourism domain:

• How do political and economic élites, policy-makers, intermediaries of any kind, tourists, etc. react to major, global, economical changes? E.g.: changes in the geography of holidays, in the length of journeys; changes in partnerships between public and private actors; changes in the awareness of the potentiality of the tourism domain as a sphere to attract exogenous economical/cultural/social resources; the repositioning of tour operators towards new tourist targets. 
• Is it possible to identify new or renewed themes in the tourism domain that become the object of material and discursive mobilization in order to answer problematic conditions brought about by the economic recession? E.g.: the promotion of innovative tourist destinations, itineraries, events, etc. as an answer to the need for sustainability; but also the promotion of luxury destinations that may attract consumerist élites.
• How do the possible changing attitudes of political and economic élites, policy-makers, intermediaries of any kind, tourists, etc. influence the economic and cultural, social and spatial life of tourism destinations at micro-scale level? E.g.: in terms of “power relations”, “participative democracy”, “transition to a low carbon society”, “social innovation”, “socio-spatial segregation” just to quote but a few debated themes.
• How are lock-ins dismantled or reproduced in tourism?

We particularly welcome papers that focus on fostering the renewal or the “(re)invention” of tourism destinations, tourism sites within cities, tourism itineraries, products, policies and even of particular categories of tourists as a possible solution or as a reaction to economic recession.

Priority will be given to the presentation of those case studies embedded in theoretical accounts or exploring emerging trends in tourism with the help of analytical categories.

Submission guidelines

Papers will be accepted either in English and in French.

Submit an abstract of no more than 250 words by filling in this form and send it to the session organizers using the corresponding email s10@eugeo2013.com

onlybefore march 31st 2013.

Scientific committee

Session organizers :

• Chiara Rabbiosi (chiararabb@libero.it ), Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna (Italy)
• Valeria Pecorelli (valeriapecorelli@gmail.com), University of Milan Bicocca (Italiy)

EUGEO 2013 :

• Gino De Vecchis, AIIG President
• Franco Farinelli, AGEI President
• Henk Ottens, EUGEO President
• Franco Salvatori, SGI President
• Lidia Scarpelli, SSG President