Abstract
Small island developing states (SIDS) face high dependence on tourism, which leaves them vulnerable to external shocks and other challenges. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore how tourism-dependent destinations have been shaped by tourism dependence. This study is a case study of the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao. It analyzes how tourism dependence in Curaçao influences socio-economic stability, through adaptive capacity, resilience, and transformation. The research design involves a mixed methods approach; secondary data was collected through desk research and was taken from public data sets, newspaper articles, and policy papers. The primary data was taken from interviews, which were sampled through purposive sampling and snowball sampling. Thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data, and regression analysis on the quantitative data. The analysis showed that Curaçao has an economic dependence on tourism, which increased after 2020. This means that the main actors, the government of Curaçao and its residents, are reliant on tourism-related income. This dependency influences residents and the government’s behavior, as they are less likely to act against tourism growth and aim to attract foreign investors. However, this reinforces tourism dependence, as the government is less likely to impose regulations and policies to mitigate uncontrolled tourism growth. This results in structural limitations that inhibit transformation away from tourism dependence. Although the small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings, as not all perspectives may be represented in the interviews. It can be concluded that tourism dependence influences socio-economic stability through foreign investors dominating the sector and governments having limited control over its regulation, while residents are vulnerable.