Anthropologies, tourism and (im)mobilities in troubled times

Tourism has registered unprecedented growth since the beginning of the new millennium and has been welcomed in tourist destinations as a source of economic development However anthropologists historically have dedicated a careful analysis on the embedded inequalities provoked by the tourism encounters and misencounters in host communities Recently with the COVID 19 crisis the world has moved from hypermobility and overtourism to detention and undertourism Within this global scenario it has been witnessed a material reappropriation and symbolic resignification of historically touristified spaces In this context the disputes of tourist oriented spaces have represented a multifaceted and complex scenario between international interests and local scale effects To cope with the crisis local authorities national tourism offices and destination marketing organizations DMOs have focused on reactivating the value chain of the tourism sector In this regard most of the public aid has been of a fiscal nature such as reductions tax exemptions and legal moratoriums This panel aims to explore the effects of the mobility crisis induced by COVID 19 in urban and rural tourism contexts based on epistemological methodological and discursive approaches that have occurred in the last decade Furthermore the panel wish to open a debate on how anthropological contributions might foster a better understanding on the social perspective of COVID 19 induced tourism crises and on the controversial relationship between mobility rights and immobility obligations in tourist destinations.