International Congress Tourism, Adaptability, and Societal and Technological Transformations in the Pandemic Crisis

This study provides a conceptual approach to the congress system, a tourism sector particularly impacted by the pandemic crisis, but so far, only little studied in the literature. It focuses on the measures stakeholders adopt in the context of a significant crisis and structural changes. The main contribution of this work is a theoretical decoding of the metropolitan system of international congress tourism. It analyses the adaptation and shock absorption measures taken during the pandemic crisis by stakeholders of nine world cities in the context of structural transformations. The findings provide a better understanding of the adaptability of metropolitan stakeholders and societal and technological transformations in the event tourism sector.