Starting anew: ecotourism and resilience principles as a framework for building wildlife destination sustainability in a post-COVID-19 pandemic world

ABSTRACT

The wildlife tourism industry faces increasing threats of climate change and human demand, both of which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The decrease in human activity resulting from the pandemic has created disruptions for wildlife tourism destinations that are being felt by the local communities, the wildlife, and the surrounding environment. This paper examines the impacts of these disruptions and highlights the opportunity for wildlife destinations to start building back towards the goal of sustainability with increased resilience. The principles of resilience and ecotourism are examined, with the intersecting and applicable fundamentals further explained. A framework for wildlife destination sustainability is then presented alongside a conceptual model for policymakers, tourism operators, and community leaders to consider. This study argues that wildlife tourism destinations should apply and promote sound ecotourism principles to better prepare for and recover from disruptions, promote biodiversity conservation, and support socio-economic stability.

KEYWORDS:

• Wildlife tourism
• destination
• ecotourism
• resilience
• COVID-19
• pandemic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).