UNIT 6

Crisis, recovery and risk management

UNIT OUTCOMES

■ Define crisis and risk related to tourism

■ Examine the development of risk, crisis and recover
management methodologies in the tourism industry
■ Examine key crisis and risk typologies in tourism
■ Discuss means to measure the severity in tourism
Defining crisis and risk in tourism

■ There is no universally accepted definition

■ However, the following should be present:
■ -A triggering event which causes significant change
■ -A perceived inability to cope with the event
■ -A threat to the existence of the foundation of the organization
■ -Unexpectedness event
■ -Urgency
■ -Danger
Crisis

■ In crisis situation participants are taken by surprise, and have a

little time to make difficult decisions
■ Crises become catalysts of change
■ There is danger and opportunity
■ See example about Samoa earthquake in 2009, page 206
■ Tourism crisis involves cause effect, severity and response
Crisis cont..

■ Therefore, tourism crisis is a situation requiring radical management

action in response beyond the internal control of an organization
■ Also necessitating urgent response of marketing and operational
practices to restore the confidence of employees, associated enterprise
and consumers
■ It undermines the viability and marketability of a tourism destination
■ Refer to the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 (swine flu) and 2020 covid-19
Risks
■ Tourism risks refer to the possibility or probability of a negative event occurring
■ Tourism risks are divided into four key categories:
■ Natural hazards which include climate events such as floods, earthquakes,
tsunamis, volcanic eruption, wildfires, mudslides or avalanches
■ Technological hazards which can include failure of technological systems,
industrial sites, buildings, transport systems or infrastructure
■ Biological hazards which can include diseases and environmental contamination
■ Civil/political hazards which can encompass, crime, terrorism, political unrest
and violence and economic shocks
Tourism crisis typologies

■ Economic and commercial tourism crises

■ Political tourism crises
■ Terrorism and politically motivated violence targeting tourism
■ Social-cultural and crime
■ Environmental tourism crises
■ Technological failures and tourism
Economic and commercial tourism crises

■ Refer to an example of Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998

■ And global financial crisis in 2008
■ The collapse of key individual businesses due to management
failures, e.g the collapse of Australian domestic airline, 1-time
airline in South Africa
Political tourism crises

■ Tourism crises that stem from internal political conflicts, such

as coups, civil conflict, anarchy, disorder, corrupt, extremist
■ Countries that recently have been affected are, North Korea,
Irag, Somali, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Thailand, Fiji
Terrorism and politically motivated violence
targeting tourism

■ Terrorism consists of violence and extortion

■ Core motivator is to generate international publicity
■ E.g. the Bali bombings of October 2002 and 2005
■ Terrorists groups employ cyber terrorism
Social-cultural and crime

■ In some country's tourism causes social inequality which

generate crime
■ The dissonance between tourist's behavior and hosts’
expectations
■ Wealth that locals lack triggered conflicts
Environmental tourism crises

■ Natural disasters
■ Climate change
■ Human-generated environmental pollution and degradation
■ Tourism health crises
■ Livestock foot and mouth disease, UK 2001
■ SARS (Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome) 2003
■ H1N1 (swine flu), 2009
Technological failures and tourism

■ Failure in air, train and ship traffic control technology, causing

crashes
■ Cyber destruction in a computer-linked business
■ Cyber terrorism
The role and significance of perception
in tourism crises
■ Media coverage in the creation of and amelioration of tourism
related crises
■ Interpretation of reporters colour their public perception
■ Negative news reports
Measuring the severity of a crisis and
analyzing key security issues
■ Ranking of crisis severity dubbed DESTCON (Destination
Condition)
■ DESTCON 5: Normal conditions
■ DESTCON 4: Crisis event which affects either a limited
number or tourism businesses in a limited area
■ DESTCON 3: Crisis event that affects a large number of
tourism businesses in a single country
Measuring the severity of a crisis and
analyzing key security issues cont..
■ DESTCON 2: Crisis events which affects destinations and
businesses in a region which could involve more than one
country e.g. SARS
■ DESTCON 1: Crisis situation which impacts on global tourism
such as the 9/11 attack
Tourism security

■ Most western-owned hotels such as Taj Hotel in Mumbai and

JW Marriot hotel in Jakarta have increasingly attacked by
terrorists
■ After the 9/11 event, the USA government department of
homeland security developed an adversary system focusing on
the threat level, specifically terrorism
■ The nature of security threats and its preventative measured is
a dynamic process
Tourism security cont…

■ The challenge to security personnel is to anticipate and

priorities security risks
■ Figure 11.2 indicates several key elements of the tourism
security cycle, vulnerabilities and security challenges
Tourism security cycle fig 11.2
Risk assessment & contingency
management procedures
■ There are five Rs of crisis and risk management
■ -Readiness
■ -Response
■ -Reduction
■ -Recovery
■ -Review