EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

The elephant in the Zoom: the role of virtual safaris during the COVID-19 pandemic for conservation resilience

Jenna Barker and Sue Rodway-Dyer

Current Issues in Tourism, 2023, vol. 26, issue 13, 2221-2234

Abstract: The economic turmoil and restrictions on human movement precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted conservation efforts. Many conservation actors rapidly implemented various adaptive measures in response to the cessation of the nature-based tourism industry, the primary revenue source for much of conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. This timely preliminary study examined the innovative use of virtual safaris, a form of virtual nature-based tourism, as an adaptive response to the crisis. Eight in-depth semi-structured interviews and two written responses from a range of ‘conservation operators’ provided insight into motivations, benefits, and challenges associated with using virtual safaris. This novel study found three mechanisms through which virtual safaris helped to alleviate the effects of COVID-19 with the potential to develop conservation resilience: 1) as a stopgap measure, 2) for revenue diversification, and 3) as a means of scaling ecosystem services. Virtual safaris provided a critical lifeline for conservation operators, created a new tool to connect with distant audiences, and strengthened relationships with donors. However, this research highlighted a need to re-evaluate the role of sustainable tourism within conservation, with transformative changes essential to enhance future conservation resilience.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13683500.2022.2132921 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rcitxx:v:26:y:2023:i:13:p:2221-2234

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rcit20

DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2022.2132921

Access Statistics for this article

Current Issues in Tourism is currently edited by Jennifer Tunstall

More articles in Current Issues in Tourism from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-20
Handle: RePEc:taf:rcitxx:v:26:y:2023:i:13:p:2221-2234