Situational analysis as a critical methodology: mapping the tourism system in post-Katrina New Orleans

Tourism development in the United States and globally is deeply rooted in hypercapitalist strategies and influenced by neoliberal conditions which prioritize economic development often to the detriment of those living and working in tourism destinations. The tourism workforce is a major entity sustaining the day to day operations of the tourism system, yet it remains underexplored. The COVID-19 global pandemic has only strengthened the argument for the need to prioritize the social—or person—aspect of sustainable tourism. Critical qualitative methods such as situational analysis combined with theoretical perspectives like critical race theory can provide methodological tools to expose and re-envision privatized constructions of sustainable tourism. In this article, we describe possibilities for using critical situational analysis to examine a broad range of complex conditions and provide examples of situational mapping from a study focusing on disaster capitalism and the use of tourism development as a strategy in post-Katrina New Orleans. We then offer possibilities for using situational analysis as critical qualitative inquiry moving forward.