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Purpose This paper aims to explore the themes and nature of sentiment of Twitter content that discussed the Australian bushfire disaster 2019–2020 and its associated wildlife devastation, with considerations for the future of Australia’s tourism industry. Design/methodology/approach A large, qualitative data set consisting of all publicly available Twitter posts during the period of the Australian bushfires from December 2019 to March 2020 that mentioned the bushfires and wildlife are explored. Findings The devastation of wildlife through the Australian bushfire disaster elicited emotionally charged Twitter content from both Australian and overseas users. Positive sentiment focused on offering support to areas impacted by wildlife devastation. Negative sentiment concentrated on linking the Australian bushfires disaster to global discussions surrounding the climate emergency, and a perceived lack of political action. Originality/value Despite the intensity of media attention directed towards the Australian bushfires disaster 2019–2020, there has been little scholarly research exploring social media content specifically focused on the wildlife devastation and its association with, and implications for, the tourism industry.

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is an academic in the Management Discipline Group at the UTS Business School. Ashlee has recently completed her PhD in sport management, examining the governance of corporate sport sponsorship. Her research interests are in strategic alliances, business-tobusiness relationships and sport sponsorship. Daryl Adair is Associate Professor in the Management Discipline Group at the UTS Business School. He is on the editorial board of several academic sport journals. His most recent book (with Stephen Frawley) is the edited collection Managing the Olympics (Palgrave, 2013). Tracy Taylor is a Professor of Sport Management and Deputy Dean at the UTS Business School. Tracy is editor of Sport Management Review and has published widely in sport and leisure management journals. Her research includes human resource management and managing people in sport organisations. Antoine Hermens is the Head of the Management Discipline Group at the UTS Business School. He is also the Director of the Global Executive MBA program at UTS. Antoine spent the first 25 years of his career as a manager and executive in companies in the international automotive industry sector. His research lies within the areas of strategy and alliance management.

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