Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Decision-Making Processes for Resilient Tourism-Based Economic Development

自21世纪初以来，由于世界日益相互联系的性质和旅游的相对便利，旅游业经历了指数级增长。根据联合国世界旅游组织的数据，旅游业现在是世界上发展最快的产业之一。自旅游研究开始以来，大多数研究都集中在该行业的积极经济效益上，忽视了广泛的负面经济、社会和环境影响。同样，研究也经常从发达国家消费者的角度来关注旅游业。关注发展中国家旅游目的地的旅游研究很少，而且通常也仅限于当地居民的看法和态度。研究没有集中在目标利益相关者的决策过程。在全球范围内，旅游业高水平地区的家庭，特别是那些在农村地区投资于以旅游为基础的生计战略的家庭，正在迅速使其生计多样化，以旅游为基础。这项研究将调查社会、文化、经济、环境和制度因素影响他们这样做的决定。本研究项目从复杂性和公地理论的理论框架出发，结合现有的旅游文献，探讨利益相关者的生计和管理决策。这项研究将在尼泊尔上马斯塘的喜马拉雅地区进行，由于基础设施发生了巨大的变化，该地区最近于1992年向旅游业开放，因此特别重要。2018年和2019年在该地区开展的试点工作表明，家庭生计正在迅速多样化，导致自2007年以来旅游活动呈指数级增长。通过调查、半结构化访谈和参与式观察，本研究将首先调查当地居民是否以及如何从事以旅游为基础的生计的决策过程。其次，该研究将让民选官员了解他们在开发和管理旅游业方面的决策过程。这项研究有助于在更广泛的跨学科学术范围内转变和重新构建旅游研究，将旅游视为与其他社会、文化和环境结果相关的其他生计和管理选择中向人们开放的一系列选择。此外，该研究具有实时的实践、制度、政策和管理影响的潜力，这将对研究区域的旅游有效管理以及其他面临制度和治理决策困难的旅游目的地有价值。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Since the turn of the 21st century, tourism has experienced exponential growth due to the increasingly interconnected nature of the world and the relative ease of travel. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, tourism is now one of the world’s fastest growing industries. Since the inception of tourism studies, a majority of research has focused on the positive economic benefits of the industry, overlooking the widespread negative economic, social, and environmental impacts. Similarly, studies have often focused on tourism from the perspective of consumers in developed countries. Tourism research that does focus on host destinations in developing countries are rare and also typically limited to the perception and attitudes of hosting residents. Research has not been focused on the decision-making processes of destination stakeholders. Globally, households in regions with high levels of tourism, particularly those invested in tourism-based livelihood strategies in rural areas, are rapidly diversifying their livelihoods to tourism-based ones. This research will investigate the social, cultural, economic, environmental, and institutional factors influencing their decisions to do so. This research project explores the livelihood and management decisions of stakeholders by drawing from the theoretical frameworks of complexity and commons theory and integrating this thinking with existing tourism literature. The research will be carried out in the Himalayan region of Upper Mustang, Nepal, a region particularly relevant because of dramatic infrastructural changes and its recently being opened to tourism in 1992. Pilot work in the area in 2018 and 2019 suggests that households are rapidly diversifying their livelihoods, resulting in an exponential increase in tourism activities since 2007. Using surveys, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation, this research will first investigate local inhabitants’ decision-making processes, regarding whether and how to engage in tourism-based livelihoods. Second, the research will engage elected officials to understand their decision-making processes in developing and managing tourism. This research contributes to transitioning and reframing tourism studies within broader interdisciplinary scholarship - one which considers tourism to be a set of choices open to people among other livelihood and management options linked to other social, cultural, and environmental outcomes. In addition, this research has the potential for real-time practical, institutional, policy, and managerial impacts, which will be valuable for effective management of tourism in the study region, as well as other tourist destinations facing difficult institutional and governance decisions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.