#TourismPostCOVID19 LOCKDOWN TOURISTIFICATION ERNEST CAÑADA & IVAN MURRAY (ED.) NÚRIA ABELLAN, ALBERTO ACOSTA, JAUME ADROVER, ANTONIO ALEDO, PABLO AZNAR-CRESPO, RAOUL VALERIO BIANCHI, ASUNCIÓN BLANCO, MACIÀ BLÁZQUEZ, RAFAEL BORRÀS, EMILIO CLIMENT-GIL, AGUSTÍN COCOLA-GANT, ANGÉLICA DUARTE, VERÓNICA DZIENCIELSKY, CONSEPCIÓN ESCALONA, RODRIGO FERNÁNDEZ MIRANDA, ROBERT FLETCHER, DANIEL HIERNAUX-NICOLAS, CARLA IZCARA, IKER JIMENO, JOSÉ MANSILLA, JOSÉ JAVIER MAÑAS, JOAN MORANTA, CRISTINA OEHMICHEN, GUADALUPE ORTIZ, BIANCA PAES G. DOS SANTOS, MARGALIDA RAMIS, MARTA SALVADOR, ÉRICA SCHENKEL, ARTURO SILVA LUCAS, ANGELA TEBERGA, CATI TORRES, JOAQUÍN VALDIVIELSO, ISMAEL YRIGOY #TourismPostCOVID19. Lockdown touristification. Ernest Cañada & Ivan Murray (ed). Alba Sud Editorial Tourisms Collection, issue 7, 2021 This report is published with the support of the Office for Development Cooperation and Solidarity (OCDS) of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) within the framework of the XVI Call for Aid for Global Actions on Education for Global Citizenship 2019; the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCD) in the framework of the project “Research platform on tourism, human rights and gender equity” (2019 Call); and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union, and the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and the Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Spanish Government to the project “Overtourism in Spanish Coastal Destinations. Tourism Degrowth Strategies” (RTI2018- 094844-B-C31).. Of the editors: Ernest Cañada & Ivan Murray Of the text: Núria Abellan, Alberto Acosta, Jaume Adrover, Antonio Aledo, Pablo Aznar- Crespo, Raoul Bianchi, Asunción Blanco, Macià Blázquez, Ernest Cañada, Rafael Borràs, Emilio Climent-Gil, Agustín Cocola-Gant, Angélica Duarte, Verónica Dziencielsky, Consepción Escalona, Rodrigo Fernández Miranda, Robert Fletcher, Daniel Hiernaux-Nicolas, Carla Izcara, Iker Jimeno, José Mansilla, José Javier Mañas, Joan Moranta, Ivan Murray, Cristina Oehmichen, Guadalupe Ortiz, Bianca Paes G., Margalida Ramis, Marta Salvador, Érica Schenkel, Arturo Silva Lucas, Angela Teberga, Cati Torres, Joaquín Valdivielso, Ismael Yrigoy. Of this edition: Alba Sud Editorial www.albasud.org [email protected] Editorial Coordination: Ernest Cañada & Ivan Murray Graphic Design: Boixader & Go Barcelona, 2021 ISBN: 978-84-09-27721-6 #TourismPostCOVID19 Lockdown touristification Ernest Cañada & Ivan Murray (ed.) Núria Abellan, Alberto Acosta, Jaume Adrover, Antonio Aledo, Pablo Aznar-Crespo, Raoul Bianchi, Asunción Blanco, Macià Blázquez, Rafael Borràs, Emilio Climent-Gil, Agustín Cocola-Gant, Angélica Duarte, Verónica Dziencielsky, Consepción Escalona, Rodrigo Fernández Miranda, Robert Fletcher, Daniel Hiernaux-Nicolas, Carla Izcara, Iker Jimeno, José Mansilla, José Javier Mañas, Joan Moranta, Cristina Oehmichen, Guadalupe Ortiz, Bianca Paes G., Margalida Ramis, Marta Salvador, Érica Schenkel, Arturo Silva Lucas, Angela Teberga, Cati Torres, Joaquín Valdivielso, Ismael Yrigoy CONTENTS Introduction, Ernest Cañada & Ivan Murray 5 IN PERSPECTIVE Lockdown Touristification 14 Ivan Murray & Ernest Cañada LOCKDOWN NOTES: How have we got here? The vulnerability of tourism specialization 70 Joan Moranta Cultural singularity as a cause of COVID-19 spread in Spain: a response 75 Ivan Murray & Ernest Cañada Social vulnerability and the Spanish residential tourism model: 84 scenarios in the face of the COVID-19 crisis Antonio Aledo, Guadalupe Ortiz, Pablo Aznar, José Javier Mañas, Iker Jimeno and Emilio Climent-Gil Tourism on the post-development path. [Currently in the trap of COVID-19] 93 Alberto Acosta COVID-19 and cruise ships: A drama announced 99 Angela Teberga Tourism on the Latin American public agenda: how did we get here? 109 Érica Schenkel What’s going on? Post COVID-19 tourism employment crisis: risks and opportunities 118 Rafael Borràs A crew trapped on cruise ships 126 Angela Teberga Short-term rentals, COVID-19 and platform capitalism 132 Agustín Cocola-Gant COVID-19 and Hotel Financialisation 136 Ismael Yrigoy The future of touristic cities after the pandemic 139 José Mansilla Touristocracy: organized vulnerability 143 Joaquín Valdivielso & Jaume Adrover A feminist view of the COVID-19 crisis and tourism 152 Núria Abellan, Carla Izcara, Marta Salvador COVID-19 in Cancun: epidemic and vulnerability in a world-class tourist destination 159 Cristina Oehmichen & Consepción Escalona Tour Guides’ Global Struggle for Emergency Aid 176 Bianca Paes G. dos Santos COVID-19 crisis in Costa Rica: an increasingly complex scenario 182 Arturo Silva Lucas Policies to reactivate tourism in Central America: will the old model return? 190 Angélica Duarte So, what we do? PostCOVID-19 Tourism: Should we go back to the same? 203 Daniel Hiernaux-Nicolas From the «coronaclimatic virus» to the restructuring of the socioeconomic system. 211 Let’s take advantage of this moment Cati Torres COVID-19 and the prospects for the radical transformation of tourism 217 Raoul Valerio Bianchi Tourism, Degrowth, and the COVID-19 Crisis 223 Robert Fletcher, Ivan Murray, Macià Blázquez, Asunción Blanco So, what happens after all this? 228 Margalida Ramis Pandemic: opportunities and disputes in the next tourism in Argentina 236 Rodrigo Fernández Miranda & Verónica Dziencielsky COVID-19: now is the time to transform tourism Transforming 246 Transforming Tourism Iniciative INTRODUCTION Ernest Cañada & Ivan Murray1 In March 2020, we became clearly aware of the seriousness of the situation caused by COVID-19 when the state of alarm was declared in Spain, with the consequent home confinement of millions of people. The generalization around the world of this type of measures to restrict our daily behavior for health reasons confirmed that the threat was global and that, we were finally facing a pandemic in the way that Mike Davis (2020) had warned. Far from being accidental, it was closely associated with the historical evolution of capitalism. Inevitably we warned that the nature of this crisis, and the actions taken to stop the spread of the coronavirus, reproduced what humanity has done in the past to deal these types of threats: isolation as the mean of protection. This resulted in a sudden halt to mobility and a sharp reduction of human interactions that called into question the dominant tourism development model. In addition, in the previous months to the pandemic there had been two episodes that, due to their proximity in time, and seen from Spain, alerted us that this kind of tour- ism development could collapse and lead us to a disaster situation. In September 2019, the announcement of the bankruptcy of the historic tour operator Thomas Cook put at risk the continuity of the massive arrival of tourists that could be catastrophic for those economies highly dependent on tourism. On the other hand, in January 2020, the storm Gloria had severe effects on the Spanish Mediterranean coasts. Then, in addition to the destruction of coastal infrastructures and the blurring of the coastline, we were also strongly impacted by the image of supermarkets in Mallorca with empty shelves. Food could not be transferred from the Peninsula, neither supplied locally due to the long abandonment of agriculture to the detriment of tourism and construction. These three elements concentrated in a very short span - business failure, worsening of the effects of natural phenomena 1 Ernest Cañada is coordinator of Alba Sud. Ivan Murray is lecturer of Geography at the University of the Balearic Islands and collaborator of Alba Sud. #TOURISMPOSTCOVID19 content LOCKDOWN TOURISTIFICATION 5 → Introduction due to climate change and health crisis - illustrate the extreme vulnerability of those societies highly dependent on tourism. Precisely, and in a premonitory way, Joan Moranta, titular scientist of the Balear- ic Oceanographic Centre, sent us an article that we published immediately on March 11 in which he warned on this conjunction of factors that could lead to a crisis of greater proportions. He pointed out that those societies under the dynamics of global tourism were highly vulnerable. And this had accelerated in the last decade. In addi- tion, from the experience of previous crises, we knew well that, in a context of high inequality like ours, the crisis would fundamentally affect the most disadvantaged sectors of society, and that it would clearly have a marked class, gender and race bias. The risk of a greater precariousness of millions of people’s lives in touristified societies triggered our alarms. We decided to take a step forward to face the anguish isolation. With the state of alarm declared, from Alba Sud, as an independent research center specialized in tourism from critical perspectives, we analyzed how we should react to this situation. The practical paralysis of tourism made it evident that we could not continue with our research plans and publications, and we also felt the responsibility to intervene politically in the face of what was happening. We became aware of the need to provide analysis and perspectives in the face of the gravity of the moment and, above all, provide analytical tools to cope with what was falling on us. We thought that it was necessary to build a collective vision from Spain and Latin America, where our team is located. The identification of the main risks would help us in thinking how to influence politically in the face of the gravity of the mo- ment. It was then when we decided, in addition to postponing our publication plan,