Perception of Tourism Sector about Community Resilience in Puerto Vallarta, México in the Face of a Disaster Such as COVID-19

Abstract

As tourist destinations grow, they become more complex and may compromise their resilience and sustainability. Community resilience, understood as anticipating and minimizing destructive forces through adaptation or resistance, maintaining basic functions and structures during events, and recovering after these events, is an aspect that has not been extensively explored in tourism research. This study analyzed the resilience of the tourist destination Puerto Vallarta under the Hyogo Action Framework, focusing on themes such as governance, risk assessment, knowledge and education, risk management, vulnerability reduction, disaster preparedness, and response. The Delphi method was employed to evaluate resilience through the perspectives of 15 key actors. The data collected was processed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and factorial correspondence analysis. No significant differences were found between the groups of actors, and it is concluded that the destination is not resilient. Its recovery from the COVID-19 crisis is expected to be slow due to a lack of strategies in this regard. This research aims to contribute to the understanding of community resilience as perceived by stakeholders in a consolidated tourism destination.