The fastest growing economic activity in the last thirty years had been tourism, which globally had come to mobilize over a billion people every year. The enormous turnover of the sector, but above all its nature that interconnects distant geographical areas has made it an activity capable of moving enormous interests and involving various other fields of economic, industrial, artisanal, agricultural and tertiary production.
The crisis of the Covid19 pandemic has highlighted its fragility, on the one hand, and its international importance, on the other. The restrictions on air flights, cruises, train travel and, more generally, on the mobility of people have brought down all tourist movements.
From an anthropological point of view, we think about the consequences that have been caused by the crisis in this sector. There are changes in the ways in which various activities related to tourism are carried out: destinations have changed, favoring those considered more “sustainable”; the social composition of tourists has expanded to previously excluded classes; the average age of tourists has dropped, due to the concern of the elderly to deal with crowded situations; accommodation in holiday homes has had a great development, considered safer and more self-manageable; the spending capacity of tourists has transversally recomposed as regards young people; the timetables, the methods of access to the services, the forms of consumption have been redefined, with the consequent adaptation of the accommodation facilities and those that provide services.
Another phenomenon that has arisen concerns the lack of workforce available in the sector (hotels, restaurants, bars). The fixed-term (seasonal) employment contracts that are proposed are considered absolutely insufficient to meet the needs of safeguarding the protection of workers. The uncertainty and social inequalities introduced by the Covid19 crisis have also produced this unexpected effect, which is making some employment contracts unacceptable.
