Developing resilience for small island tourism planning: A qualitative design infusing the sustainability trilogy with three streams of resilience thinking

Abstract

Overlooked connections between sustainable development goals (SDG) and principles of resilience (POR) drive this case study through theoretical ‘Streams of Resilience’ thinking to expose disjuncts in gastronomy, tourism, and domestic development policy on Ly Son Island Vietnam. Grounded approach qualitative methodology supports critique of tourism developments filtered through sustainability-impact trilogy dimensions. Findings suggest that socio-economic and natural ecosystem ‘slow accumulation impacts’ result from internal and external geo-political forces. The critical carrying capacity issues for Ly Son are compounded: first by the internal success of garlic-based agritourism development; and second, Vietnam’s desire to increase ‘on-Island’, investment in tourism infrastructure as a sovereignty response to external influences in a disputed Eastern Sea. Global mobility dilemmas trigger island community and national dialogues that must go beyond sustainable livelihoods to ‘all-around’ resilient ecosystems.