Publication Date
Summer 7-8-2021
Submission Type
Article
Abstract
This study employed quantitative social media big data analysis in conjunction with qualitative analysis of postings to better comprehend online lay discourse of climatic change issues in a nature-based tourism destination, Jasper National Park, Canada. Such mixed methodological approaches to big data enable tourism researchers to not only study unstructured social media big data for future-proofing purposes but to address some methodological concerns often raised about solely using corpus linguistic or thematic analyzes. This study unearthed divergent themes regarding tourists’ perceptions of climate change upon visiting JNP, with the most significant discourses on climate grief, education and interpretation, pro- environmental behaviors, and last-chance tourism. It was also observed that despite scientific links between increasingly intense and extended wildfire seasons and climate change, visitors failed to connect wildfire’s negative impacts on visitors’ experiences in Canada’s Rocky Mountain national parks with climate change.
Included in
Climate Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Discourse and Text Linguistics Commons, Environmental Education Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons, Marketing Commons, Recreation Business Commons, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration Commons, Social Media Commons, Tourism Commons, Tourism and Travel Commons