It is generally considered that the tourism industry exposes cities to the risk of a process of tertiarisation, causing a transformation and commodification that deeply affects cities and the lives of their inhabitants to feed the tourist expectations. This paper suggests the overcoming of the idea of the tourist as a mere client. Nowadays, the tourists want to act such an inhabitant: they prefer to stay in a house and visit the same places local people inhabit, looking for a more authentic experience. This attitude clarifies the success of scattered hotels (Albergo Diffuso) or non-hotel hospitality facilities, such as the Airbnb phenomenon, and the growing number of informal tours that promise to reveal the true side of a city. The very labels of inhabitants and tourists tend to disappear, being replaced from definitions such as Guest community and Host community, a broader concept that includes visitors, relatives and tourists. Globalisation has shortened the distances and mobility has transformed inhabitants into a temporary presence. The drop in intensity in the use of historical urban cores (caused by vacancy, holiday home/apartments, second homes), and the related abandonment of the countryside lead to a progressive shrinking of places and therefore to a more rapid decay. Using the cases of Badolato and Santo Stefano di Sessanio as examples, the paper shows that the challenge is to guarantee the presence of stable population, whatever they are local inhabitants or newcomers. Residents are a permanent presence in the territory, they embody traditions and habits that preserve authenticity and are crucial for the construction of the landscape. Once considered tourism as an economy based on hospitality, the reasoning moves towards the training of human capital. People and the territory are assets, as well as the capability of people to know their land and to host people who visit it.
Hosts and Guests. Toward a common responsibility in caring about the landscape
Piacenti, Giulia
2019-01-01
Abstract
It is generally considered that the tourism industry exposes cities to the risk of a process of tertiarisation, causing a transformation and commodification that deeply affects cities and the lives of their inhabitants to feed the tourist expectations. This paper suggests the overcoming of the idea of the tourist as a mere client. Nowadays, the tourists want to act such an inhabitant: they prefer to stay in a house and visit the same places local people inhabit, looking for a more authentic experience. This attitude clarifies the success of scattered hotels (Albergo Diffuso) or non-hotel hospitality facilities, such as the Airbnb phenomenon, and the growing number of informal tours that promise to reveal the true side of a city. The very labels of inhabitants and tourists tend to disappear, being replaced from definitions such as Guest community and Host community, a broader concept that includes visitors, relatives and tourists. Globalisation has shortened the distances and mobility has transformed inhabitants into a temporary presence. The drop in intensity in the use of historical urban cores (caused by vacancy, holiday home/apartments, second homes), and the related abandonment of the countryside lead to a progressive shrinking of places and therefore to a more rapid decay. Using the cases of Badolato and Santo Stefano di Sessanio as examples, the paper shows that the challenge is to guarantee the presence of stable population, whatever they are local inhabitants or newcomers. Residents are a permanent presence in the territory, they embody traditions and habits that preserve authenticity and are crucial for the construction of the landscape. Once considered tourism as an economy based on hospitality, the reasoning moves towards the training of human capital. People and the territory are assets, as well as the capability of people to know their land and to host people who visit it.
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