Only a small number of studies have focussed specifically on the ability of the marine tourism sector to cope with crises and global change. These studies, have either focussed on one country, one destination or on the relationship between marine tourism operators and conservation. What is currently lacking is an empirical investigation of the factors that may enable marine tourism enterprises in different socio-economic and governance contexts to survive or adapt to crises and change. This paper builds on earlier work and investigates both the commonalities and the unique factors associated with the resilience of marine tourism enterprises across three different socioeconomic and governance settings. An understanding of the commonalities and context specificity of response to environmental and socio-economic stresses is valuable as there is growing acceptance of the context specificity of human environment interactions