Little is known about the resilience of nature-based tourism businesses facing environmental change. Resilience theory has been lauded as a comprehensive and systems-oriented concept well suited to analysing tourism systems. This presentation provides an overview of the results of my PhD thesis which investigates the social-ecological resilience of tourism operations offering birdwatching experiences on the Otago Peninsula, Dunedin, New Zealand. The research adopts a resilience assessment framework (Resilience Alliance, 2010) and qualitative research methods to identify key themes of birdwatching tourism operations’ resilience.  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 participants from the Otago Peninsula and surrounding local area. Interviews were supplemented with an extensive review of local, regional, and national policy documents and resource management strategies. The focus of the presentation will be on the first two research questions. The findings presented have implications for, and raise critical questions about, resilience research in the context of sustainable nature-based tourism.

The Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC hosts a weekly lecture series at the Prince George campus. Anyone from the university or wider community with interest in the topic area is welcome to attend. Presentations are also made available to remote participants through Livestream and Blue Jeans. Go to http://www.unbc.ca/nres-institute/colloquium-webcasts to view the presentation remotely. 

Past NRESi colloquium presentations and special lectures can be viewed on our video archive, available here.