Chaos, crises and disasters: a strategic approach to crisis management in the tourism industry

This paper outlines and discusses a strategic and holistic approach to crisis management for the tourism industry. It notes the growing importance of crisis and disaster management for the tourism industry before exploring the definitions and nature of crises and disasters. The paper then proposes a strategic approach to their management from proactive pre-crisis planning through strategic implementation and finally evaluation and feedback. A discussion of crisis and disaster management literature and studies conducted in the tourism field are also introduced. It notes that although crises and disasters cannot be stopped their impacts can be limited by both public and private sector managers. The paper concludes that the understanding and subsequent management of such incidents can be vastly improved through the extension and application of crisis and disaster management theory and concepts from other disciplines, coupled with the development of specific tourism crisis management research and frameworks.     

Crisis Management and Its Impact on Destination Marketing

Abstract

This paper analyzes the crisis management procedures utilized by four specific Convention and Visitors Bureaus in a variety of disaster situations and locations across the United States. The crises studied are representative of both man-made and natural disasters, and occurred in destinations in which tourism plays a significant role. From these case studies, a comprehensive set of crisis management procedures was compiled for the benefit of Convention and Visitors Bureaus nationwide. Such standardized crisis management procedures will presumably contribute to a faster and more efficient recovery for any destination after a crisis, as these procedures have been used in actual crisis situations.     

Examining the relationship between social capital and community residents' perceived resilience in tourism destinations

A thorough understanding of the influencing factors and mechanisms of community resilience in tourism destinations is vital not only for recovery after disasters but also for strengthening the adaptive capacity of community residents to manage sudden change. This study aims to investigate the roles of bonding, bridging, and linking social capital in enhancing community residents' perceived resilience in tourism destinations. Based on data derived from a survey of 691 residents of China's Dujiangyan scenic areas and Jiuzhai Valley National Park, this study used structural equation modeling to test the relationship between community residents' perceived social capital and resilience in tourism destinations. The findings suggest that the three types of social capital have significantly positive effects on community residents' perceived resilience in tourism destinations. In China's centralized political system, linking social capital is the most important type of social capital in community disaster recovery. An interaction effect between bonding, bridging, and linking social capital is found. This study's results help managers and community residents cultivate social capital, improve community resilience and maintain sustainable tourism development.     

Structural breaks in international tourism demand: Are they caused by crises or disasters?

It is recognised that the tourism industry is vulnerable to some form of crises or disaster. However, despite the attention given to the nature and consequences of tourism crises and disasters, there is a gap in the literature regarding the ex-post detection of these events. In this article, we estimate both the number and date of structural breaks in international tourism arrival series for 25 countries and Madeira Island using the Bai and Perron (1998) structural break test. We compare the date of tourism crises and disasters to the dating of these structural breaks. We observe that tourism crises and disasters are largely consistent with the dates of breaks. Therefore, this method allows us to solve a gap in the tourism industry related to the correct allocation of negative shocks in international tourism arrival demand to crisis or disaster phenomena.     

Crisis Communication and Recovery for the Tourism Industry

Abstract

As the number of disasters and crises affecting the tourism industry increases, it is becoming necessary to understand the nature of these disasters and how to manage and limit the impacts of such incidents. This paper defines crises and disasters before discussing the area of crisis communication management and crisis communication in the tourism industry. The paper then applies the foot and mouth disease (FMD) which occurred in the United Kingdom to crisis communication theory at a national level (by examining the response of the British Tourist Authority) and at a local level (by examining the response of a District Council). The response was limited in part because of a lack of preparedness, but also due to the nature of the foot and mouth outbreak, and the speed and severity of international media coverage. Action was taken in the emergency phase of the crisis and was reactive involving inconsistency in developing key messages to stakeholders, partly due to confusion and a lack of information at the national level. Recovery marketing was also limited due to the length of time of the disease outbreak. This paper provides lessons for destinations and organisations are discussed which may help develop crisis communication strategies for tourism organisations.     

Communicating Tourism Crises Through Destination Websites

SUMMARY

The present paper addresses the issue of communicating tourism crises, with a special focus on the role of the destination marketing organization's Web sites. The risks and impact of the avian flu on the mobility of people, and consequently therefore, on tourism has been addressed. Selected tourism destinations crisis communication strategies were investigated through their Web sites. The findings should (a) bring to the attention of tourism authorities the potential role that destinations' Web sites have in helping to prevent worldwide diseases and to compare different approaches adopted by different types of destinations, and (b) help governments, destinations and other stakeholders to understand the conditions necessary for communicating tourism crises and outbreaks by using their Web sites as effective tools to better share information among them.     

CRISIS KNOWLEDGE IN TOURISM: TYPES,FLOWS AND GOVERNANCE

Driven by the rapidly growing number of crises that affect tourism, the study of crisis knowledge management is gaining an increased interest in the tourism field. Effective management of crisis knowledge enhances the resilience of tourism organizations and destinations in crisis situations, strengthens their defense mechanisms, limits potential damages and allows them to bounce back to normalcy faster. This paper uses critical incident interviews with 21 tourism executives in order to identify the types of crisis knowledge they employ in the advent of a crisis and to explore the crisis knowledge management processes and flows within their organizations. Drawing from extant generic literature and the informants’ responses, the paper proposes a framework for the governance of crisis knowledge in tourism.     

流域一体化进程中旅游地可持续发展研究框架

流域是相对封闭、自成体系的地理空间,流域旅游是流域可持续开发的重要组成部分。从流域生态系统服务出发分析流域一体化进程中旅游地的可持续发展,以全流域功能和结构转型视角探究旅游地绿色发展的优化策略与调控路径,是适应国内流域经济带建设、提升流域社会福利和发展公平性,促进流域生态安全屏障建设的重要探索。本文分析了流域一体化进程中旅游地发展研究面临的关键问题,结合现有研究基础阐释重点研究主题并构建研究框架。研究认为,流域内旅游地研究正在从点状分析走向网络和面域协同发展,旅游地发展在流域生态补偿、流域产业融合等方面产生的效应越来越明显;外部环境变迁、多要素交互作用下,中国流域一体化进程中的旅游地可持续发展面临的形势迫切,流域内旅游地的供需结构、均衡发展、协同治理均面临挑战;未来应重点关注旅游地时空演化特征、外部环境因素、演化更新机制、时空情境模拟、优化调控路径5个方面,为正确认识流域内旅游地要素交互作用的趋势规律、实现流域内旅游地可持续发展提供科学依据。     

Unemployment effects of economic crises on hotel and residential tourism destinations: The case of Spain

This paper analyses the effects of economic crises on tourism destinations from a city and regional point of view. The objective is to determine which kind of Spanish “Sun and Beach” tourism destinations, residential or hotel, has better weathered the most recent economic crisis in Spain, linked to the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8. For this purpose, the authors have analysed the increases in the unemployment rates of a pool of 138 tourist destinations located on the Spanish Mediterranean coastline. The main finding of the paper is that during the crisis, residential destinations experienced a greater destruction of employment than hotel destinations. This result is consistent with previous literature that indicates a better economic performance of the hotel tourism development model.     

Entrepreneurial strategies and tourism industry growth

This paper investigates the relationship between entrepreneurship strategies and industry growth. Drawing on a longitudinal database of 481 tourism strategic planning documents, a sampling framework is used to map tourism strategies, tourism entrepreneurship strategies and tourism entrepreneurship strategic themes to tourism region by year (across a 10-year cycle), as well as to compile corresponding tourism jobs and visitation growth data. Exploratory bibliometric visuals and logistic regression reveal that regions with a tourism strategy and targeted strategies to support entrepreneurs predict tourism growth, specifically strategies for human capital development and tourism incubation programs. Future research should focus on the efficacy of tourism incubation programs for stimulating entrepreneurial activity in regional areas and as a mechanism to stimulate recovery from global crises.     

DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING RESILIENCE OF TOURISM SUB-SYSTEMS TO CLIMATIC FACTORS

Some researchers have argued that resilience is a useful concept for understanding impacts on social-ecological systems, such as tourist destinations. This paper presents the development of a resilience framework for tourist destinations with a particular focus on climatic disturbances or stress, and their impacts on tourism activity sub-systems. Building on the model of a ‘stability landscape’, this research uses primary data from the Queenstown-Wanaka destination in New Zealand to evaluate the concept of resilience and to formulate surrogates that describe the factors that shape resilience. Challenges for future research, including the proactive building of resilience, are outlined. This research represents a good example of an interdisciplinary approach that transcends existing epistemologies in tourism.     

Designing for Quality of life

There has been substantial interest in examining the connection between tourism as a socioeconomic force and quality of life. Similarly, designing places as smart destinations to enhance experience is now an important area of research and application. The paper argues that designing for tourism is intimately related to the enhancement of quality of life; that is, designing appropriate platforms for tourism experience settings with its actors will contribute not only to the wellbeing of participants, but also improve the livability of places as destinations. The article outlines a conceptual framework with seven propositions which links tourism design and key elements of quality of life. The paper concludes with a discussion of important areas for future research and practical implications.     

Developing a Research Agenda for Tourism Crisis Management,Market Recovery and Communications

SUMMARY

This article focuses on the need to develop a comprehensive research agenda for crisis management and market recovery in tourism. A review of the literature on research into risk, crisis and disaster management indicates that research has emerged on an ad hoc basis. Analysis of a database of over 2400 relevant references supports the need for a research agenda that will focus on crisis management and market recovery and communications, rather than prevention. The BEST Education Network research agenda on risk and crisis management for sustainable tourism is then presented as a basis for further development of a crisis management and market recovery research agenda. In particular, it elaborates on research issues related to the communication during tourism crises, assessing strategies for market recovery and understanding these issues from the DMO's perspective.     

Film tourism – Evolution,progress and prospects

Film tourism has emerged as a major growth sector for research in tourism and it is widely recognised as a driver of tourism development for many destinations. To date, there has been a relatively substantial literature on the subject, little of which has sought to synthesise and engage with the wider social science paradigm of culture, film and media research. The aim of this Progress Review is to critically evaluate film tourism as a subject of cross-disciplinary academic study, highlighting the major research themes, issues and contributing conceptual frameworks, critiquing existing and developing perspectives and addressing critical gaps in knowledge. This review is particularly timely as the literature on film tourism has not been synthesised from a cross-disciplinary perspective. Accordingly, this paper seeks to provide a road map of the exponential growth in social science literature associated with the cognate areas that study, or contribute to, film tourism.     

Linking tourism into emergency management structures to enhance disaster risk reduction

Despite increased global interest in the impacts of natural disasters on tourism, little research has occurred into exploring how these are addressed at the destination level. Creating a link between tourism and disaster risk reduction and management is particularly important in places that rely heavily on tourism and, at the same time, are prone to natural hazards. New Zealand is a good example. Hence, in this paper we use the case study of the Northland region to explore how both tourism and disaster management stakeholders perceive the role of tourism in present and future disaster risk management activities. The overall finding is that tourism in Northland is currently poorly considered in existing disaster management planning, and recent natural disasters have identified a range of gaps and concerns within each of the Four Rs (Reduction, Readiness, Response and Recovery). Based on these insights, and building on the current Civil Defence structure, a template for linking tourism into disaster management is proposed and populated. A Tourism Action Plan, adopted by the Northland ‘Tourism Cluster’, provides a guideline for tourism specific initiatives that complement the existing Civil Defence plans, thus adding value to the formal disaster management efforts. Considering the lack of systematic disaster management in tourism reported in the literature, this research should also be of interest to other tourist destinations and their aspirations for long term sustainability.     

Environmental change,resilience, and adaptation in nature-based tourism: conceptualizing the social-ecological resilience of birdwatching tour operations

Resilience theory has emerged as a holistic concept well suited to analyzing tourism systems and which promises important insights into the sustainability of tourism destinations in the face of accelerating global environmental change (GEC). This article presents empirical research into the social-ecological resilience of tour operators using the case study destination of the Otago Peninsula, Dunedin, New Zealand. It addresses the following research question: How do birdwatching tour operators build resilience to drivers of environmental change, including climatic drivers, into their operations? Qualitative interviews with providers of a specific nature tourism sector activity – birdwatching – were conducted with stakeholders including tour operators, conservation organizations, and local government members. The findings highlight current and possible future challenges to birdwatching tourism on the Otago Peninsula. The paper introduces a conceptual framework which highlights the tour operators’ main coping strategies in response to key perceived social-ecological system (SES) drivers of change. Overall, tour operators perceived their main social-ecological resilience to be the diversity of the species of the Otago Peninsula, their business experience, and the strength of their local stakeholder network to respond to SES crises.     

The coronavirus pandemic – A critical discussion of a tourism research agenda

Unquestionable, the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is one of the most impactful events of the 21st century and has tremendous effects on tourism. While many tourism researchers worldwide are currently ‘Covid-19 research gap spotting’, we call for more deliberateness and rigor. While we agree that the coronavirus pandemic is unique and relevant to research, we argue that not all effects are worth researching or novel to us. Previous research on crises and disasters do show similar patterns and existing theories can often very well explain the current phenomena. Thus, six illustrative examples are shown how a research agenda could look like. This includes parts where theoretical explanations from tourism are missing, as well as where we think existing knowledge might be subject to a tourism paradigm-shift due to the coronavirus pandemic.     

The Need to Use Disaster Planning Frameworks to Respond to Major Tourism Disasters

Summary

This paper looks at the Australian federal government's response to a series of tourism disasters and crises that affected the Australian tourism industry in 2001 and measures these impacts against the response mechanism suggested in the Tourism Disaster Framework Model developed by Faulkner (2001). The paper finds that as shocks often occur with little warning, the establishment of a formal disaster management framework should be given a high priority by government and receive support from the private sector. Had such a mechanism been in place in Australia prior to 2001, the government may have been able to respond to the disasters in a more considered manner.     

The Role of Market Orientation in Managing Crises During the Post-Crisis Phase

SUMMARY

The tourism business around the world, as one of the most susceptible and vulnerable sectors, must often manage and survive global crises. In recent years the global tourism industry has experienced major crises, such as terrorist attacks, political instability, economic recession, biosecurity threats and natural disasters. The most well-known cases bear testimony to the fact that crises are not new to the tourism industry. However, tourism management capabilities and abilities to deal with complex and critical situations are limited. The time has come to develop an understanding of factors that can help tourism businesses prepare a way of getting through such crises by examining the role of market orientation and its antecedents during a post-crisis phase. This paper is concerned with the effects of several organizational factors on market orientation in airlines during the post-crisis phase of the terrorist attacks of “9/11.” The results indicate that top management factors, interdepartmental factors and organizational systems have a positive effect on market orientation after a crisis has occurred.     

Scale development for tourist trust toward a tourism destination

The increasing occurrence of tourist trust crises in various destinations in recent years has made tourism researchers and practitioners aware of the important role of trust. However, the previous literature has not provided a generally recognized scale for measuring tourist trust toward tourism destinations. In the current study, a qualitative analysis of social media posts and a quantitative examination of destination visitors were used to measure and validate tourist trust in a destination. The results revealed that tourist trust in a destination consists of five dimensions involving multiple stakeholders, including authorities, tourists, residents, employees, and the agency, which demonstrated that each party in the overall ecosystem of tourism destination plays a critical role in building positive tourist trust. Evidence from about 1100 tourists' responses at multiple destinations indicated that tourist trust has a significant positive impact on destination image. The study findings have many theoretical and practical implications.