Announcements
No. 2 (2023)
NOTE: DATES TO DEFINE
Guest Editors
Prof. Fabiola Sfodera
Department of CORIS (Dipartiment of Communication and Social Research) and MEMOTEF (Methods and Models for Economics, Territory and Finance), University of La Sapienza - Rome, 2022
Email: segreteria@sistur.net; info@turistica.it
The pandemic crisis and lockdown restrictions have caused significant reductions in tourism and unprecedented economic losses, as well as a global spread of fear, sadness, and concern. Two years after the first lockdown, it is of great interest to the academic and tourism practitioner community to assess the multidimensional effects of the pandemic, distinguishing between short-term cyclical effects and long-term structural effects. The summer reopenings have confirmed the resilience of tourist flows, projecting a recovery comparable to pre-pandemic levels as early as 2024, and thus a relatively quick re-absorption of the cyclical trend due to lower infection rates and increased vaccination coverage. According to the UNWTO Tourism Barometer, tourism grew by 182% from January to March 2022, with over 117 million arrivals compared to 41 million in the first four months of 2021; Europe (+199%) and America (+97%) have recorded the most promising growth rates. However, there are some important structural changes in demand that have not yet resulted in changes in mass behavior, but are still significant, visible, and worthy of attention in academic and professional debates. These changes were already present in the pre-crisis market but have received a significant boost following the crisis.