ABSTRACT
On 28 April 2017 the prime minister of the UK, Theresa May, mistakenly commented that she wanted to prevent ‘tourism’ instead of ‘terrorism’. Given the political climate this was an unfortunate slip but it does highlight the fact that tourism and politics are intimately connected. An event may be commonly understood at its most minimal level as something out of place, something shocking that interrupts the normal flow of things. It may be planned for or may be somewhat unexpected. Events can take hold of the imagination though, such that it takes on a life of its own and thus unfolds through time and space. The amount of events as well as the different scales of them also leads to various stresses: in terms of transport systems through congestion, in terms of security through geopolitical systems of control, as well as in terms of individuals’ abilities to cope with attending multiple events at the same time.
