Social-ecological resilience and community-based tourism in the commonwealth of Dominica

Coastal zones and tropical islands are some of the most popular tourism destinations worldwide, and recent scholarship has explored the linkages between community-based tourism development and social-ecological resilience. Social-ecological resilience is the capacity of a social-ecological system to adapt to change from shocks or surprises, which also applies to the context of community-based tourism development. Data were collected on the island of the Commonwealth of Dominica. In the six coastal communities of Roseau, Portsmouth, Mero, Soufriere, Layou, and Scotts Head, resident perceptions of social-ecological resilience were examined through 40 semi-structured interviews using snowball sampling with community members who were self-employed in either the farming, fishing, or tourism industries, community leaders, or those who were involved in tourism-related efforts or policy at a mid- to senior-level. Interview transcripts were coded inductively for salient themes. Results indicate that community member access to the benefits of tourism are enabled by factors such as the island's tourism reputation and its interconnected primary industries (farming, fishing, and tourism). These emergent themes that hinder local residents' access to benefits from tourism, such as limited physical access to and within the island and grant dependency, have the potential to threaten resilience. Limited access influenced seasonal tourism, related income dynamics, and contributed to grant dependency and income diversification. Income was not viewed as a social-cultural cue. Understanding what does and does not support access to the benefits of tourism can help evaluate measures of social-ecological resilience for a tourism destination community. Evaluating measures of social-ecological resilience can help evaluate the success of related development policies and provide focus for future ones. Coastal areas with high measures of social-cultural resilience are less vulnerable and more able to adapt or transform to shocks or disturbances.