Road mapping recovery from the impacts of multiple crises: framing the role of domestic self-drive tourism in regional South Australia

ABSTRACT

In regional South Australia, a combination of droughts, bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic has presented dynamic challenges to tourism economies. As inbound international tourism remains unlikely to return to pre-COVID-19 levels for the foreseeable future, the importance of domestic tourism has become further pronounced, most notably in regions that have been affected by major declines in tourist flows. This exploratory qualitative study reports on regional South Australians’ participation in domestic tourism during the pandemic and the factors that have influenced how they travel. Our findings reveal that participants had predominantly engaged in self-drive tourism due to the feelings of safety it offered in contrast to other modes of transport, the opportunities it permitted in fostering reconnections and supporting wellbeing, and because of its ability to evoke positive feelings and emotions that were structured around adventure and discovery. Moreover, it was additionally observed that self-drive tourism offered practical opportunities to engage in altruistic pursuits to support crisis-affected regions across the state. Therefore, this paper offers timely insights into the behaviours of regional South Australians during the pandemic and how they utilised self-drive tourism to support both personal and community recovery from the impacts of multiple crises across the state.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-drive tourism
• South Australia
• COVID-19
• environmental crises
• altruism
• economic recovery

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gareth Butler

Gareth Butler is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Events at Flinders University, Australia. His research interests include sustainable tourism development, community engagement strategies, and tourist mobilities. He is also a Senior Research Affiliate of the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Gerti Szili

Gerti Szili is a Lecturer in Geography at Flinders University, Australia. She is an Urban Geographer with a background in urban and regional planning, environmental studies, and anthropology. Her core research interests lie in investigating urban regeneration practice and governance and critiquing the various ways environmental discourses are mobilised within contemporary urban landscapes.

Cecile Cutler

Cecile Cutler is an Adjunct Lecturer in Geography at Flinders University, Australia. Her research interests include Asian and regional development, housing, historical and human geography.

Iain Hay

Iain Hay is Matthew Flinders Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Geography at Flinders University, Australia. His research interests include geographies of oppression and domination, wealth and income inequality, the super-rich and human-environment relations. He also has a significant record of scholarly work on research ethics and learning and teaching.