Bar crawls, foam parties, and clubbing networks: Mapping the risk environment of a Mediterranean nightlife resort

• Ethnographic assessment of high-risk tourist behaviors in Ayia Napa, Cyprus
• Findings reveal multiple intertwined populations and risk-filled interactions.
• Complexity science perspectives are proposed to study travelers engaging in risk.

Mediterranean nightlife destinations draw millions of visitors annually with promises of sun, sea, sand, unrestricted drinking, and round-the-clock partying. In these risk environments young adults engage in excessive drinking, recreational drugs, and casual sex. This study is designed to elucidate the physical space of clubbing settings where health and safety risks unfold; delineate the social organization of risk and identify stakeholders and primary players involved; ascertain risk exchanges and transactions among these populations; and explore potential multifaceted solutions for harm reduction. Ethnographic assessment of risk environments in Ayia Napa, Cyprus included participant and non-participant observations, geomapping, informal discussions, and secondary data collection. Results revealed an array of individual, public health, and safety risks exacerbated by characteristics of the spatial environment. Increased hospital visits due to drinking, substance use, or acts of violence along with incidence of STIs/HIV, unplanned pregnancies, sexual assaults, and even death, were revealed during data analysis.