Transformative hospitality through community-led artistic interventions

Abstract Purpose – This study aims to examine how community-led artistic interventions activate early-stage processes of transformative hospitality. It is based on the case of Altofest, an international contemporary art festival in Naples. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative interpretive case study adopts an arts-based research (ABR) approach. Three complementary creative data generation methods were used: pre- and post-performance drawings, sentence completions and social choreography to explore the relational, symbolic, affective and embodied dimensions of transformative hospitality. Findings – Community-led artistic interventions can foster transformative hospitality. They facilitate the four interconnected early-stage transformative processes: re-signification of private space as relational encounter; re-imagining of urban hosting via critical reflections on touristification; re-definition of hospitality as community through participation and co-presence; and transformation itself realized through public discussion involving hosts, artists and audiences. Research limitations/implications – This study shifts the focus of transformative tourism research from the individual to the host community. It positions host communities as active subjects of transformative potential in urban tourism and proposes a conceptual framework for transformative hospitality. Social implications – Transformative hospitality can contribute to rethinking tourism practices. The proposed methodology may also be adopted by policymakers and practitioners to encourage critical reflection and support social innovation through the arts in tourism. Originality/value – This research advances transformative hospitality as a relational and place-based process that extends beyond the tourist and the service encounters, positioning the host communities as active subjects of transformation. It also demonstrates the potential of ABR and creative data generation methods for investigating collective and place-based transformation in tourism and hospitality research.