Assessing Sustainability and Resilience in Tourism Destinations

This cumulative dissertation centres around methodological approaches for the development and implementation of destination sustainability and resilience assessments. Assessments are introduced as a valuable tool to bridge the divide between high-level and international frameworks for sustainable development and practical strategies that are locally applicable in tourism destinations on the ground. Regarding the assessment of sustainability, the dissertation critically reflects on conventional practices of developing sustainable tourism indicators and formulates approaches for effectively assessing sustainability at destination scale through the adaptation of generic indicators and the adoption of more participatory and locally contextualised formats for indicator development. Regarding assessments of resilience, the dissertation first highlights and addresses the current lack of conceptual clarity about destination resilience and subsequently translates the conceptual insights generated by this discussion into a destination-specific resilience assessment methodology. Comprised of four research articles, the dissertation employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, including case study research, a Delphi survey, conceptual research, and the integration of transdisciplinary research. Taken together, all four studies clearly demonstrate the strong potential of more participatory methods of assessment to foster multi-stakeholder dialogue, raise awareness, stimulate learning, and promote actor networks in tourism destinations. The empirical findings and theoretical insights underscore the importance of boosting the abilities of local tourism actors to promote sustainability and build resilience rather than treating assessments as tasks to be performed as an end in themselves. The dissertation introduces, pilots and reviews a number of participatory methodologies for assessing sustainability and resilience highlighting key insights yielded from their implementation in various case study destinations. Overall, the dissertation makes the case that flexible approaches which prioritise usability over precision and are tailored to local contexts are highly expedient for scaling up sustainability engagement, building local capacities, and initiating resilient action in tourism destinations.