Understanding Stakeholder Perspectives of Aviation Tourism Growth in the Alaska Range: An Exploration of History, Change, and Sustainable Tourism in National Parks and Gateway Communities
Open Access
Author:
Drage, Erinn
Graduate Program:
Recreation, Park and Tourism Management
Degree:
Master of Science
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
February 25, 2021
Committee Members:
Peter Newman, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Brendan Derrick Taff, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Marijke Hecht, Committee Member Peter Newman, Program Head/Chair
Keywords:
Parks Protected Areas Local Perspectives Stakeholders Community Tourism
Abstract:
Nature-based tourism destinations, including gateway communities to national parks, are currently undergoing rapid and dramatic changes. As tourism continues to rise in popularity and global climate change transforms the natural environments that attract tourists, understanding the historical contexts of tourism in protected area settings and documenting ongoing complex processes of change, especially from the perspective of local stakeholders, is imperative for sustainably managing tourism into the future. This thesis advances the incorporation of historical understandings of tourism destinations and change over time into tourism research and adds to a growing body of literature on stakeholder perspectives of impacts in protected area settings. Using aviation tourism in Talkeetna, AK and Denali National Park and Preserve as a case study, this thesis seeks to answer four research questions: R1) How do local stakeholders describe the history of aviation tourism in Denali National Park and Preserve?; R2) What do stakeholders identify as indicators of change associated with the aviation tourism industry in Denali? How do they perceive these changes over time?; R3) How do stakeholders describe the impacts of aviation tourism in the Denali Region? and; R4) What do stakeholders perceive to be the most important park management challenges to sustainably managing aviation tourism growth in Denali National Park and Preserve? Results of this thesis help to document local understandings of the history and development of flightseeing and glacier landing tourism in the region, reveal important indicators of change in the industry over time, and explore the social, environmental, and economic impacts of growth in the aviation tourism industry.
