FROM TOURIST CITIES TO THE PANDEMIC SCENARIO: THE PARADOX OF GLOBALIZATION

Abstract

The implementation of neoliberal policies based on public-private collaboration and marketing strategies, has transformed many cities into consumer spaces, vital for the reproduction of capital associated with the real estate market, through which mass tourism and the gentrification process has been promoted. The objective of this text is to reflect on how this urban reconfiguration has led to important negative externalities to its citizens, and then, emphasize the changes that the mobility restrictions caused by the pandemia of the COVID-19 meant for the inhabitants of two Spanish tourist cities, Barcelona and Madrid. It also investigates possible alternatives towards more sustainable and inclusive post-covid tourism. The methodology contemplates a wide bibliographic review of the processes of gentrification and tourist and their contradictions, the search for official data on the evolution of international tourism during pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, and the elaboration of tables and graphics.  Among the results, stands out an analysis of what these mobility restrictions meant for the citizens of the central neighborhoods of these cities: their prominence in public spaces, in local shops and in the real estate market, usurped in recent decades, with the processes of tourist and gentrification.