Reimagining resilience: COVID-19 and marine tourism in Indonesia

As the COVID-19 crisis virtually halts tourism operations globally, questions arise as to what makes tourism operations and the socio-ecological systems they operate within resilient to such disruptions. This period also presents a moment of critical self-reflection and reinvention for tourism operators that hope to not only be resilient themselves, but to foster resilience in the communities and ecosystems upon which they depend. These issues are explored in the context of different forms of tourism in a marine national park in eastern Indonesia. This paper uses an agency-based livelihood resilience framework to examine the social structures, agency, and livelihood capital of the surrounding socio-ecological systems as driven by these operations. The findings suggest that the dominant development discourse in Indonesia and among tourism planners focusing on the growth of ‘high-end’ exclusive forms of tourism has neglected livelihood capital and made communities more vulnerable to ruptures like COVID-19. Emerging from this crisis, this research urges academics, practitioners, and business owners to ‘reimagine’ the potential of tourism to first and foremost empower more resilient socio-ecological systems in the face of an increasingly uncertain future.