From welcome to well ... come: the mobilities, temporalities and geopolitics of contemporary hospitality – commentary to Gill

Abstract

In this reflection, I take Nick Gill’s contribution to this issue on the politics of hospitality and welcome as a point of departure to address three specific concerns, framed by the context of contemporary global mobility. First, I argue that various aspects of the recent so-called European migration crisis enable us to further question some of the long-fixed categories through which mobile actors are often classified. Second, I speak to the critical nature of temporality as a governing factor not just in how states manage mobile peoples, but in how people imagine, understand and experience individual and group processes of welcome. Finally, I suggest that just as geopolitical discourse plays a clear role in how migration is understood and experienced, so too are geopolitics deeply embedded in the encounters, practices and regimes of hospitality across tourism.