The following academic journal articles outline the concepts of resilience and tourism in further detail.
Nyaupane, G. P., Prayag, G., Godwyll, J., & White, D. (2020). Toward a resilient organization: analysis of employee skills and organization adaptive traits. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29(4), 658-677. Link to Article.
Abstract: The concept of resilience is complex, and research on what contributes to public sector organizational resilience outcomes and how to effectively model resilient organization is still in its infancy. The purpose of this study is to apply the Employee–Organization Relationship (E-O-R) framework to understand the relationship between employees’ skillsets, organizational traits and organizational resilience. Data for this study was obtained from a survey of 312 employees of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the largest public land management agency in the US that plays a critical role in serving millions of tourists. The findings indicate that although employees perceived themselves as having skills that are adaptive, they had very low confidence in the organization’s ability to adapt, thus perceiving the organization to have low resilience. Findings suggest that organizational traits such as safe/secure working environment, thinking beyond the status quo, including the right people in decisions, and effective long-term planning are perceived by employees as critical for organizational resilience. The findings also suggest that employees’ perceived organizational resilience differs by generational cohorts. Theoretical and practical implications in building resilient public land/protected area management organizations are discussed.
Clark, C., & Nyaupane, G. P. (2020). Overtourism: an analysis of its coverage in the media by using framing theory. Tourism Review International, 24(2-3), 75-90. Link to Article.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to obtain a deeper understanding of how the media frames the recent overtourism phenomenon and to theorize the impacts of such framing on policy making and mitigation by using framing theory. We conducted a content analysis of 85 media articles to compare the negative impacts of overtourism across destination types. The results revealed media reports of critical environmental impacts at national parks, beach destinations, and archaeological sites; high socioeconomic impacts at archaeological sites, island destinations, and urban destinations; and high infrastructural impacts at national parks, archaeological sites, and island destinations. Differences in the severity of impacts by destination type have implications for destination planning and management frameworks. We also used Entman’s classification of frames to analyze the media’s portrayal of the phenomenon. Results revealed that the media overemphasizes redefining overtourism and fails to cover a range of possible solutions for properly managing the complex issue, especially by major news sources. These findings suggest that the media continuously redefines overtourism as a new phenomenon and oversimplifies its complexity, which prevents addressing the root cause of the problem and misleads policy implications. Theoretical implications of media framing are discussed, as are remedial strategies for destination management.
Basnyat, S., Shrestha, S., Shakya, B., Byanjankar, R., & Basnyat, S. (2020). Domestic Tourism in Nepal: Issues and Challenges. Tourism Review International, 24(1), 37-49. Link to Article.
Abstract: Compared to international tourism, domestic tourism is less susceptible to external changes and provides a more stable business environment for industry stakeholders. Traditionally, the focus of a majority of tourism research has been international tourism. Existing domestic tourism literature predominantly focuses on the potential of domestic tourism and the measurement of its demands, but greatly ignores the issues and challenges in the domestic tourism industry. This article fills this gap and examines the issues and challenges the domestic tourism industry is facing with a focus on Nepal, a South Asian developing country. The data for this study were collected through semistructured interviews with 20 tourism industry practitioners. The findings of this study demonstrate how uncertainties created by the lack of institutional arrangements and prioritization, and confusion around the appropriate ways and means of managing domestic tourism have contributed to the chaos in the private sector tourism industry in Nepal. Implications for the government and other stakeholders in Nepal and other developing countries have been discussed.
Tourism Resilience Forum 