Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations 8-2011 AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO ASSESSING THE RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY BASED TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA Patrick Holladay Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Part of the Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration Commons Recommended Citation Holladay, Patrick, "AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO ASSESSING THE RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY BASED TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA" (2011). All Dissertations. 784. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/784 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO ASSESSING THE RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA _______________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management _______________________________________________________ by Patrick Joseph Holladay August 2011 _______________________________________________________ Accepted by: Dr. Robert B. Powell, Committee Chair Dr. William C. Norman Dr. Kenneth F. Backman Dr. Robert F. Baldwin ABSTRACT Despite millions of dollars invested in developing community-based tourism to diversify economies, reduce poverty and improve quality of life in the Caribbean, little is known about what conditions lead to resilience and sustainability of tourism dependent communities. Sustainability from a resilience theory perspective is the likelihood an existing system of resource use will persist indefinitely without a decline in the resource base or social welfare. Undertaking activities to enhance resilience and sustainability improves a systems‘ ability to persevere, adapt, and learn to meet challenges caused by unanticipated events such as stock market collapse, political upheaval, or natural disaster. This study used an integrated mixed-methods approach to investigate attitudes about community tourism development and the social, institutional, economic, and ecological resilience domains in six communities across Dominica. The study was broken into three main components. First, resident perceptions of social, ecological, governance, and economic resilience of their community was examined utilizing a new scale that was developed using steps promoted by DeVellis. Second, a community tourism-resilience index or scorecard was developed, which included resident attitudes toward the four resilience domains and four attributes of the local community including tourism amenities, attractions, access, and detractants. Third, a qualitative study was used to measure decision-making stakeholders‘ perspectives on both the need for community tourism development and activities that supported community resilience. Data indicated moderate to low resilience in all four domains across the six communities. This result suggests that these communities will need to invest in diversifying the tourism product, ii enhancing business training, protecting natural capital, and developing capacity in local institutions, otherwise they may be unsustainable in the face of unexpected change. iii DEDICATION For my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For my lifelong inspiration, Dr. Bertie Leon Holladay, my grandfather and for his wonderful wife, Texie Wagner Holladay, my grandmother. For my parents, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wagner Holladay and Pamela Jo Henry Holladay, models for unconditional love. For my siblings, my sisters Joanna Vandewater and Amanda Brillinger and with special remembrance to my late brother Jeff Watkins. Finally, for my light and complication, Danielle B. Secrist, who is always there and always loved. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many, many thanks are needed. First to Dr. Bob Powell, my committee chair, advisor, and friend. I received a true blessing when we were paired to work together on this. Bob always cared first and foremost. Then he made sure the work was done. I am forever indebted. To my other committee members Dr. Bill Norman, Dr. Ken Backman, and Dr. Rob Baldwin. Each has his own sensibility, viewpoints, and expertise that made my work interesting and challenging. Their suggestions on theory, methodologies, and project operationalization improved this dissertation. Also to the many other faculty, staff, colleagues and fellow graduate students in the department. With special gratitude to Dr. Brett Wright, Tequila Stokes, Karin Emmons, Annette Parker, Matt Brownlee, Jeff Skibins, Brianna Clark, and Jeremy Culpepper. So many interactions on a daily basis over the years created a wonderful working atmosphere. Thank you to the people of Dominica. To the dynamic leaders like Arlington James, Marvlyn James, Anne Jno Baptiste, Nancy Osler, Marvlyn Robinson, and Athie Martin. Thanks to my friends Marcel, Felda, Michael and the others I met over my travels. Finally, to all the people of the communities I visited across the island my sincerest thanks for all you did for me while there. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Background ................................................................................................................................. 1 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 5 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 6 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 6 Structure of the Document ........................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO ...................................................................................................................... 10 Relating Resident Perceptions of Social-Ecological Resilience to the Sustainability of Community-Based tourism Development in the Commonwealth of Dominica ........................... 10 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 10 The Dominica Context—Examples of Disturbance .................................................................... 12 Recent Tourism Development in Dominica ............................................................................... 14 Theoretical Framework of Resilience and Sustainability ............................................................ 15 Methods .................................................................................................................................... 21 Study Site .............................................................................................................................. 21 Selection of Study Sites ......................................................................................................... 22 Scale Development ................................................................................................................ 24 Sampling ............................................................................................................................... 25 Results ...................................................................................................................................... 26 Demographics ....................................................................................................................... 26 Demographics of Sample ....................................................................................................... 27 Confirmatory Factor Analysis ................................................................................................ 28 Resilience Scores and Analysis of Variance ........................................................................... 30 Discussion................................................................................................................................. 32 vi Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................