Assessment of Tourism Lessons from Northern Ireland
: A Post-Conflict Perspective

  • Mirela Nica

    Student thesis: Doctoral ThesisDoctor of Philosophy

    Abstract

    Tourism destinations increasingly face natural and human-induced disasters. The appreciation that the tourism sector is a complex adaptive system provides scope for the understanding of the key characteristics that influence its resilience and adaptive capability, as well as its vulnerability. In this respect, Northern Ireland’s tourism recovery and development post-conflict offers an indication of the inherent capacity of building resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity. By assessing the complexity of the post-conflict tourism recovery through the perspectives of the stakeholder groups involved, this study draws on a wide range of research and methodological approaches. A questionnaire-based survey of tourists (n=395) is employed to collect the attitudes of the demand side, and in parallel, 27 semi-structured interviews are used to gather the views of the supply side. The use of PLS-SEM helps to explore and assess the elements influencing tourists’ decision to visit/revisit these destinations (tourist resilience), while the interviews’ thematic analysisfacilitates the discussion and critical evaluation of the key aspects of the post-conflict tourism development. The findings indicate that considering resilience and vulnerability as interconnected concepts (dimensions) provides an effective way to the assessment of the tourism destination’s capacity to build resilience and adapt to change. In particular, the human dimension (tourists and communities), business flexibility, collaborative governanceand shared vision were found to be critical in building resilience and reducing vulnerability in post-conflict settings. The findings further highlight the importance of promoting a diverse attraction base to increase a destination’s attractiveness, where a positive image aids in changing a destination’s perception by ensuring tourists’ safety and security are at the heart of post-conflict spaces. The post-conflict tourism revival and development framework proposed in this research offers an increased awareness and capacities to stakeholder groupsin handling crisis situations elsewhere. In doing so, it furthers our understanding and contributes to the general knowledge of tourism crisis management theory and practice.
    Date of AwardMar 2023
    Original languageEnglish
    Awarding Institution
    • Coventry University
    SupervisorVijay Reddy (Supervisor) & Stephen Boyd (Supervisor)

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