Perceptions of tourism impacts and community resilience to natural disasters

ABSTRACT

Evidence since at least the 1990s suggests that global climate patterns have undergone dramatic changes, often resulting in weather-induced natural disasters that have caused widespread environmental damage. Such conditions raise serious threats to communities that are dependent on natural resources and ecosystem services for tourism development. Communities located in high-risk disaster regions face greater challenges in developing a tourism economy that is both resilient and sustainable. Residents in these communities live with a constant awareness of external threats and try to build a degree of resilience that includes traditional disaster prevention measures and a long history of post-disaster reconstruction. It is necessary to understanding the relationships between tourism and community resilience to address planning and development goals in an era of increasing climate uncertainty.

Three communities are examined that are regularly exposed to the threats of typhoons and flooding and are located within National Scenic Areas in Taiwan. In-depth interviews with community leaders and surveys of residents were undertaken. Residents with high potential to experience natural disasters generally have high degrees of awareness of various forms of tourism impacts. Their perceptions of tourism impacts are positively correlated with community resilience. The strongest relationships are between a perception of the positive economic impacts from tourism and the local capacity for undertaking adaptive responses; and between an awareness of the environmental impacts of tourism and the perceived fragility of their environment. Empowering community resilience usually requires long-term capacity building and is correlated with all three types of perceived tourism impacts. Deconstruction of the special experiences of disaster-prone tourism destinations provides a more nuanced insight into the relationships between community knowledge and awareness of resilience needs and the role and impacts of tourism. This, in turn, facilitates understanding of community tourism development in the face of contemporary changes in weather and climate.

摘要

至少自上个世纪九十年代以来, 有证据表明, 全球气候经历了剧烈的变化, 致使由天气引发的自然灾害频发, 造成了广泛的环境损害。这种情形对那些依靠自然资源和生态系统服务发展旅游的社区产生了严重威胁。处于高风险灾害地区的社区, 在发展兼具恢复力与永续性的旅游经济时, 面临巨大挑战。这些社区的居民始终处于面临外部威胁中生活, 他们尝试构建出某种程度的恢复力, 包括传统的灾害防御措施与悠久的灾后重建历史。因而, 有必要理解旅游与社区恢复力的关系, 以便在环境日趋不确定的时代实现这些社区的规划与发展目标。

本研究考察了三个社区, 他们处于台湾国家风景区的内部并且经常遭受台风与洪灾的威胁。我们对社区领导进行了深度访谈同时对居民进行了问卷调查。一般来说, 居民越有可能遭遇自然灾害, 就越能高度意识到旅游业的各种影响。他们对旅游影响的感知与社区恢复力呈正相关的关系。社区居民对旅游积极经济影响的感知与当地的适应能力、对旅游环境影响的认识与其环境脆弱性的感知是诸多关系中关联最紧密的关系。当地社区恢复力的陪力通常需要长期的能力建设过程, 并且与社区对三种旅游影响的感知都有关系。解构灾害易发旅游目的地特殊体验提供了细微理解社区知识、恢复力认知、旅游业作用与旅游影响关系的机会, 进而有助于理解当前天气与气候变化背景下的社区旅游发展问题。

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism impacts
• community resilience
• natural disasters
• climate change
• tourism planning
• sustainable tourism
• Maolin National Scenic Area
• Taiwan

关键词:

• 旅游影响
• 社区恢复力
• 自然灾害
• 气候变化
• 旅游规划
• 可持续旅游
• 茂林国家风景区
• 台湾

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the ROC [grant number MOST 103-2410-H-153-030].

Notes on contributors

Chung-Hung Tsai

Chung-Hung Tsai, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Leisure Management at the National Pingtung University in Taiwan. His research interests relate to GIS, sustainable tourism development, tourism and hospitality industry resilience to natural disasters, with a special focus on disaster risk management.

Tsung-chiung (emily) Wu

Tsung-Chiung (Emily) Wu, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Tourism, Recreation, and Leisure Studies at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan. Her current researches focus on sustainable tourism development, community resilience, cultural tourism, rural tourism, and tourism resource management.

Geoffrey Wall

Geoffrey Wall, Ph.D., is distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Waterloo. He is interested in the implications of tourism for destinations of different types, especially in Asia.

Shu-Chuan Linliu

Shu-Chuan Linliu, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Leisure Management at National Pingtung University. Her current research interests focus on sustainable tourism, disaster resilience, and human resilience in the tourism and hospitality field.