Abstract
The Municipality of Jasper is a mountain national park community located within Jasper National Park, which is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with five National Historic Sites within its boundaries. The devastating Jasper 2024 Wildfire was sparked by lightning strikes, fueled by high temperatures and dry conditions, destroying one-third of the town’s structures. Tourism plays a key role in the town’s economy, and many businesses were affected by the wildfire and evacuation. Thousands were evacuated, and multiple jurisdictions were involved in providing accommodation, administering supports, and delivering social services, which led to major complexity to meet the diverse needs of evacuees who live with inequities. The town of Jasper reopened to visitors in September 2024 following relief and recovery efforts, that included restoring services, trails, and attractions. A ‘responsible tourism’ approach was adopted to directly support the local community. This paper shares the results of research conducted with wildfire evacuees. Interviews were conducted with 30 participants with lived experiences of wildfire evacuation, and 2 focus groups were held to better understand recovery and resilience. Interviews and focus group sessions were transcribed and thematically analyzed supported by NVivo 14.0. A social constructivist analysis provided an interpretive, flexible, and iterative approach that acknowledged the diversity of perspectives. This paper shares the results of the study with a focus on Jasper’s responsible tourism, resilience and sustainability approach and implications for global lessons from local experiences is provided.
Presenters
Julie L. DroletProfessor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Critical Issues in Tourism and Leisure Studies
KEYWORDS
Responsible Tourism, Wildfire, Disaster Recovery, Evacuation, Rebuilding, Jasper, Canada
