European destination regions and social exclusion challenges

This paper presents a typology of European regions according to the type, mix and magnitude of human mobilities attracted over the 2008–2018 period, tourists being one of them, but extending to the related movement of different cohorts of migrants. Regional clusters are then assessed in terms of their social performance in domains such as health, material conditions, housing, and labour. Significant associations between regional types and social trends are interpreted in the light of potential factors affecting these outcomes. Results point to the uneven repercussions of housing unaffordability in the fastest growing destination regions, on the polarisation of living conditions in the European ‘star destinations' and on the challenge of precarious labour, especially for migrant workers, in established mature destinations. In a stage of reignition of tourism activity after the COVID-19 crisis, these insights are meant to contribute to the recovery debate, informing about key social issues and vulnerabilities which, in specific regional contexts, could have been amplified by the current crisis. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Touristification, smartization, and social sustainability in European regions

Touristification and smartization processes are commonly associated with economic growth strategies. Here we emphasize and demonstrate the need to consider the implication of these processes on social sustainability. Initial results imply that: (1) regions not specialized in tourism are associated with a lower share of population in poverty;and (2) regions' ‘smartness' level is negatively associated with the share of poverty. However, in regions highly specialized in tourism, smartization demonstrated an opposite association of increased intra-regional poverty. As residents' quality of life is becoming a key policy consideration, understanding the effect of these socio-economic processes on socially sustainable growth has timely implications for regional planning, including for post-COVID-19 recovery strategies.

European destination regions and social exclusion challenges

This paper presents a typology of European regions according to the type, mix and magnitude of human mobilities attracted over the 2008-2018 period, tourists being one of them, but extending to the related movement of different cohorts of migrants. Regional clusters are then assessed in terms of their social performance in domains such as health, material conditions, housing, and labour. Significant associations between regional types and social trends are interpreted in the light of potential factors affecting these outcomes. Results point to the uneven repercussions of housing unaffordability in the fastest growing destination regions, on the polarisation of living conditions in the European 'star destinations' and on the challenge of precarious labour, especially for migrant workers, in established mature destinations. In a stage of reignition of tourism activity after the COVID-19 crisis, these insights are meant to contribute to the recovery debate, informing about key social issues and vulnerabilities which, in specific regional contexts, could have been amplified by the current crisis.

When COVID-19 circulates in right-wing populist discourse: the contribution of a global crisis to European meta-populism at the cross-border regional scale

The success of European Right-Wing Populist (RWP) parties is related to a context of crisis, offering the opportunity to mobilize antagonisms between the people, the elite and a series of ‘others’ . Studies have been carried out to find out how populist parties have reacted to COVID-19 in Europe. However, it is still unknown whether these parties have used the pandemic to intensify a European ‘meta-populism’;that is, a European upscaling of the antagonistic discourse involving people-centred in-groups and elite/others-related out-groups. The current article explores how representatives of RWP parties located in three different states (France, Germany and Luxembourg), but in the same European cross-border region (the Saar-Lor-Lux area), mobilized COVID-19 to potentially structure a European meta-populism. Following a broad analysis of the discourse on COVID-19 produced on each side of the border during the initial phases of the pandemic (February to August 2020), the research is based on a Critical Discourse Analysis of characteristic narratives. It is shown that in such a context, the virus became an integral element of a European meta-populist discourse. However, the identity of the European in-groups and out-groups can be different across borders. These different entities can also be associated with different European spatial scales. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Contemporary European Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Sex and age differences in COVID-19 mortality in Europe.

AIM: To examine the magnitude of sex differences in survival from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Europe across age groups and regions. We hypothesized that men have a higher mortality than women at any given age but that sex differences will decrease with age as only the healthiest men survive to older ages. METHODS: We used population data from the Institut National D'Études Démographiques on cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 from February to June 2020 in 10 European regions: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, England and Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. For each region, we calculated cumulative mortality rates stratified by age and sex and corresponding relative risks for men vs. women. RESULTS: The relative risk of dying from COVID-19 was higher for men than for women in almost all age groups in all regions. The overall relative risk ranged from 1.11 (95% confidence interval, CI 1.01-1.23) in Portugal to 1.54 (95% CI 1.49-1.58) in France. In most regions, sex differences increased until the ages of 60-69 years, but decreased thereafter with the smallest sex difference at age 80+ years. CONCLUSION: Despite variability in data collection and time coverage among regions, the study showed an overall similar pattern of sex differences in COVID-19 mortality in Europe.