Social phenomena in transformation. Tourism in the light of the Covid-19 Pandemic

For a long time, and in several cases still today, tourism has unfortunately been evaluated as a substantially economic phenomenon; especially at the level of public opinion, territorial governance, and in various work and professional fields. In fact, for decades, after the „birth“ of modern tourism; in the analysis dedicated to the tourism phenomenon, those of an economic type dominated. The tourism industry and governments were interested in knowing what were the currency revenues attributed to tourism; the working and employment dimensions, and the economic wealth generated in the territories. Only relatively recently, beginning in the 1970s, tourism has made it’s way from being viewed from solely a scientific perspective, to be seen from an economic and social direction of development; especially in a globalized society, such as the one in which we are currently living. This is accredited to the work put in place by the social sciences; in particular to those in the sociological field, for having shown how considering tourism as a social phenomenon (with important economic implications) was strategically useful and interesting. This work, after briefly recalling what „social phenomenon“ means; calls to mind through empirical evidence, how social phenomenas do not simply disappear; if anything, they are transformed, even when other relevant phenomenas, such as the current Coronavirus Pandemic, would seem to have quickly eliminated them. To this end, we will use the case of the social phenomenon of tourism.