Abstract
This chapter aims to understand how and to what extent relational tourism, heavily related to the direct contact among guests, hosts and local communities, can be pursued in the post-COVID-19 scenario and which role could be played by new technologies. According to the multidimensional model of relational tourism (Ruggieri 2007) and the network relationality framework (Marques and Gondim Matos 2020), this research analyses the experience of an online gastronomic “relay race”, the Staffetta della Cucina Ciocheciò, organised during the COVID-19 lockdown. The role played by technology in maintaining existing relations, creating new ones and promoting relational tourism has been analysed through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire.
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Notes
- 1.
Italo Calvino (1923–1985) was an Italian journalist and novelist considered one of the most important Italian fiction writers. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952–1959), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a winter's night a traveler (1979). (Mondello1990).
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the organisers and participants of the Staffetta della Cucina Ciocheciò for contributing to the research and Irene Toscana for her support in carrying out the empirical investigation.
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Ferrara, C. et al. (2021). Relationships Matter. New Paths for Tourism Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic. An Exploratory Research from Italy. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) COVID-19: Paving the Way for a More Sustainable World. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69284-1_18
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