Risk and the Transformation of Everyday Places and Spaces: Emptiness and Meaning-Making in Daily Life Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Hazardscape

During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergent geographies of empty space and its relationship to fears for one's health and wellbeing have replaced our traditional understanding of social space with a risk calculus. While quarantine is the ultimate form of the preoccupation of risk, it also provides a connotation of diseased space versus safe space and who can or cannot enter exclusive spaces designed to protect others. The risk society thesis posits the emergence of a risk ethos, the development of a collective risk identity, and the formation of communities united by an increased vulnerability to risk (Ekberg, Curr Sociol 55:344, 2007). Ultimately, Beck's (Risk society: toward a new modernity. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1992) thesis of a second modernity asserts that "… the ethos of wealth creation that characterized industrial modernity has been overshadowed by an ethos of risk avoidance, class consciousness has been displaced by a risk consciousness and the increased awareness of living in an environment of risk, uncertainty, and insecurity has become a major catalyst for social transformation” Ekberg (Curr Sociol 55:344, 2007). This chapter offers perspective on the symbolic understanding of once populated spaces and places that are now empty spaces and places as stark symbols of the ubiquity of risk and emergence of a collective risk consciousness in geographies of risk. It illuminates how the transformation of common places and spaces into empty spaces present as a geography of risks "hazardscapes” in our lives while showing how the "language of risk” is understood in our daily lives in the grocery stores, public parks, and spaces, and in shared spaces to help us make meaning of our current reality and other realities (post-pandemic) to come. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Abrupt new realities amid the disaster landscape as one crisis gives way to crises. (Special Issue: Tourism and hospitality post-disaster and crisis: how can global resilience be enhanced?)

Purpose: This paper aims to highlight the roles of sudden change and social disruption in the disaster landscape that shapes the environment of tourism destinations when hazards intersect with human systems. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on the social science literature on disasters and crises. To this end, this paper provides an overview of the role abrupt changes have in transforming the tourism and hospitality industries. Findings This paper serves as a call to seek bold solutions that bring about industry best practices while fostering local community stakeholders in a more integrated way to build a more resilient future. Originality/value The disaster landscape provides opportunities to advance new structures, norms, cultural beliefs and collaborations that can foster resilience. This paper highlights the need to integrate resilience in the form of disaster management, recovery and organizational continuity strategies in the post-COVID-19 hospitality and tourism industries.

Conclusion - building resilient destinations and communities: the need for greater industry, community and academic collaboration. (Special Issue: Tourism and hospitality post-disaster and crisis: how can global resilience be enhanced?)

Purpose: This paper provides a conclusion to the theme issue by commenting on the contributions made by the writing team. Moreover, this paper advocates the use of interdisciplinary teams to build resilience in the tourism and hospitality industries. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on research and best practices cited in the preceding papers and offers viewpoints that link theory and practice. Findings Although there is no one specific way to summarize the contents of this theme issue, the findings build on the idea of forging trust and alliances to advance local and global resilience. Originality/value Post-disaster resilience is certainly relevant to the tourism and hospitality industries amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Findings and implications from this series of articles, interviews, and viewpoints can be used to aid the recovery of the tourism and hospitality industries.

Social disruption of the tourism and hospitality industries: implications for post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery. (Special Issue: Tourism and hospitality post-disaster and crisis: how can global resilience be enhanced?)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how societal disruptions in the wake of disasters and crises also disrupt the tourism and hospitality industries. Design/methodology/approach: This paper takes a case-study approach. First, the literature on disasters/crises is reviewed;then three cases in which disasters impacted local, regional and global tourism and hospitality industries are examined: Hurricane Katrina, Arab Spring and the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Three principles are proposed to assist in mitigating the impacts of disaster on the tourist industry. These principles also serve as a means of potentially re-orienting and guiding the tourism and hospitality industries toward a sustainable and equitable future. Originality/value: In addition to the three guiding principles offered in this paper;the examination of COVID-19 offers a novel case in which tourism is impacted globally by a singular disaster. Findings and implications from this case will guide recovery and, potentially, allow for a reconceptualization of the tourism and hospitality industries.