Navigating sustainability in Arctic tourism: Business models resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study explores how small tourism companies revised their business models (BMs) amid COVID-19 pandemic in Arctic Norway. It strives to deepen the understanding of resilience in BMs by integrating resilience into sustainable business models (SBM). The research applies a case-based qualitative approach by collecting data at two different stages of the pandemic. The results reveal that the pandemic gave rise to changes in BMs to balance sustainability considerations while ensuring resilience in the face of disruption. This study highlights how resilience and sustainability are interlinked in building robust BMs through key strategies such as making sustainability trade-offs, redesigning the value proposition, and enhancing the efficiency of value creation and delivery processes. By providing practical insights into resilience building at the firm level, this research contributes to advancing the literature on SBMs, resilience and tourism crisis management through an in-depth assessment of strategies and crisis-induced adaptations that balance economic, social and environmental sustainability. Notably, the findings suggest that balancing short-term survival with long-term sustainability requires dynamic adjustments in BMs. Future research could explore how these adaptive strategies evolve beyond the immediate crisis and their long-term impact on business sustainability. • Balancing short-term survival with long-term sustainability requires dynamic adjustments in BMs. • The COVID-19 crisis compelled tourism companies to prioritize short-term goals over other considerations. • The crisis resulted in an intensified focus on fostering social value creation. • The shift towards a community-based approach refers to the critical role of local stakeholders in building resilience.