Thesis Defence: Regenerative Tourism Within the Context of Climate Disasters

Gabrielle Heschuk, supervised by Dr. Donna Senese, will defend their thesis titled “Regenerative Tourism Within the Context of Climate Disasters” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies – Sustainability theme.

An abstract for Gabrielle Heschuk’s thesis is included below.

Defences are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person defences.

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Abstract

The financial importance of the tourism industry in BC is well known and continues to be supported by a number of tourism growth strategies at local and provincial levels that are aimed to increase economic profit further. However, in the pursuit of ever-increasing economic gain, many believe the tourism industry also actively degrades the natural environment on which it is reliant, simultaneously increasing its vulnerability. Additionally, climate disasters are continuing to increase in prevalence, disrupting tourism industries and the destinations that they support. The objective of this research is to consider the relationship between continued tourism growth and the environment within the context of climate disasters. The approach considers resiliency and regenerative tourism models as a basis for sustainable community development in the City of Kelowna in British Columbia, Canada. This project uncovers destination-specific recovery, resiliency, sustainability and regenerative strategies. This project applied a community-engaged research approach within a case study context in order to collect data that was grounded in the community’s experience. The research was completed in partnership with Tourism Kelowna, a not-for-profit tourism organization based in Kelowna, BC. This project worked directly on their 2022-2025 Destination Development Plan focusing on the second goal to “foster the sustainable growth of the destination” (Tourism Kelowna, 2022). Using this goal a collaborative research design was used to guide the research project which applies a qualitative, multi-method case study approach of Kelowna, BC using semi-structured interviews that follow a community-engaged research model. Industry and community key informants were interviewed, to uncover destination-specific recovery, resiliency, sustainability and regenerative strategies. These strategies were organized, translated and modified to fit into an accessible and tangible emergency management toolkit for Tourism Kelowna to provide their stakeholders. There are four main findings. Firstly, understanding the factors that increase a destination’s vulnerability is essential in enhancing and implementing resiliency strategies. Secondly, leveraging tourism’s role in a community-based setting is vital to create sustainable and regenerative tourism strategies. Thirdly, there is a critical role that social capital has on building a resilient community. Lastly, tourism plays an important and vital role in emergency management.