Sustainable Tourism as a Strategy for Destination Resilience: A Qualitative Study of Community-Based Tourism

Abstract

This study investigates the role of sustainable tourism in strengthening destination resilience through community-based tourism, with particular attention to the mechanisms that help destinations respond to crises and uncertainty. A qualitative research approach was adopted, involving semi-structured interviews with tourism stakeholders—including community leaders, tourism entrepreneurs, destination managers, government representatives, and tourism professionals—selected through purposive sampling. NVivo-assisted thematic analysis was conducted to identify recurring themes and relationships. The results show that sustainable tourism enhances destination resilience through community participation, adaptive capacity, socio-cultural sustainability, and collaborative governance. Community involvement fosters local ownership and economic flexibility, while sustainable practices and cooperation among stakeholders improve crisis response, recovery, and long-term transformation. Because the study draws primarily on qualitative perspectives from community-based tourism contexts, the findings may not be directly transferable to other tourism settings. The findings suggest that policymakers and tourism practitioners should incorporate community empowerment, sustainable practices, socio-cultural preservation, and collaborative governance into long-term destination resilience planning. The study’s originality lies in offering a community-centered qualitative explanation of how sustainable tourism functions not only as an environmental or development approach but also as an integrated mechanism for creating adaptive and resilient tourism destinations.