Fifth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

When disasters impact places with tourism-based economies, the community’s recovery is tightly linked with the return of tourists, as well as with recreational and leisure amenities. In this paper, we examine the return of tourists, including their motivations regarding space and place, following Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm that swept across coastal Texas in August 2017. Many of the communities affected by Harvey have economies largely based on family recreation that draws on the local environmental amenities, such as beaches, as well as cultural heritage sites. Interviews in Rockport-Fulton, Texas with tourism-oriented business owners, staff, and tourists during the 2018 Independence holiday provided qualitatively-robust accounts of the community’s first major summer event following Harvey, and highlighted the importance of social networks and place attachment to bringing tourists to the recovering area. Identifying the concept of chain tourism, we examine the role of tourists in the recovery of impacted locations and consider strategies to draw on these social networks to increase the number of tourists visiting communities in recovery.