Prelims

Genesis of this Book

The book Tourism risk: Crisis and recovery management is the result of reflections involving research studies of different nationalities. This book aims to provide a comprehensive collection of papers including new insights for traditional paradigms, approaches and methods, as well as more recent developments in research methodology in the crisis management in tourism.

The book adopts a multidisciplinary approach from management to local development, from entrepreneurship to sociology, from innovation to sustainability, providing illustration examples about disaster and recovery management strategies. Its ultimate goal is to elaborate a historically informed, future-focused research agenda that accounts for the needs and concerns of policy makers and practitioners in the tourism field.

Structure of this Book

The book is structured in two parts. The first part focuses on disaster management strategies. This part collects chapters that analyze the potential and obstacles on preventing destruction from (natural) disasters through advocacy, prevention, knowledge management, better coordination, capacity building strategies and better preparedness through advanced emergency response in tourism. The second part focuses on recovery management strategies. This part consists of chapters focusing on one phase of the tasks which managers face after the immediate consequences of a crisis having been dealt with.

Chapters falling into this specific part of this book are as follows:

In Chapter 1 ‘Planning for Disaster and Emergency Preparedness in Hotels’ Albattat Ahmad analyzed the current level of planning, preparedness and readiness for disaster and emergency of the hotel industry in Jordan. He identified several critical factors and barriers in developing and operating effective disaster and emergency planning in this country. Results from this study showed that in the last few decades, the Jordanian hotel industry was severely affected by many devastating emergencies and disasters.

In Chapter 2 ‘Crisis Leadership: What Do We Know by Now?’, the authors Susanne Durst, Ezgi Dinler and Pia Ulvenblad review extant research on crisis leadership to establish the current body of knowledge and, on this basis, suggest some promising avenues for future research on crisis leadership in general and crisis leadership in tourism in particular. Results show that the tourism sector may take advantage of the established body of knowledge when dealing with the current COVID-19 pandemic and forthcoming crises.

In Chapter 3 ‘Tracing the Human Capital Educational Needs as a Tool to Address Crisis Management in Tourism: A Case Study of All-Inclusive Hotels in the Prefecture of Chania, Greece’, the authors Chariton G. Bompolakis, Dimitrios A. Parpairis and Dimitrios G. Lagos enquire and trace the human capital educational and training needs, correlated to the tourism sector, as an approach to addressing crisis management in tourism. The results generated provide valuable data related to the exploitation and development of tourism-based educational programs for employees as well as programs that contribute to the level of satisfaction of tourists in all-inclusive hotels. Thus, this research provides a realistic database for implementing human capital strategies, through educational and training tools, targeting to foster the tourist product during times of crisis and within the radical transformation that the pandemic has instigated.

In Chapter 4 ‘Natural and Man-Made Crisis Management in a Small Island Tourism Destination: The Case of Bali’, the authors Putu Diah Sastri Pitanatri, I Gde Pitana and Marco Valeri examine Bali as an example of a successful case study for understanding tourism destination resilience in Indonesia. Therefore the authors developed the chapter into three main parts: (1) the crisis and recovery in the island of paradise session are to gain a better understanding of what happened on the island and how the Balinese are reacting to help the island’s tourism sector recover, (2) the tree analogy and hexahelix in the tourism crisis management section are to show how the Balinese and related stakeholders are attempting to use local concepts to promote recovery on the island and (3) the lesson learnt is how tourism recovers and what sustainable redevelopment means to the Balinese. From the research, it can be concluded that Bali provides an excellent case study to understand the diverse roles of key actors in successful crisis recovery. Both positive and negative lessons should be reported and checked consistently as part of an iterative approach to strengthening catastrophe risk assessment and crisis management capabilities for any tourism destination, aside from the latest discourse of greater engagement and partnership.

Chapter 5 ‘An Overview of Crisis Management in Hospitality Enterprises: The Case of Operating at an International Level Hotel in Adiyaman’ by Eda Rukiye Donbak, Gulsen Kirpik and Marco Valeri examine the administrative actions implemented or to be implemented by an international accommodation business operating in Adıyaman province regarding crisis management. In addition, the secondary aim of this study is to determine whether there is any administrative action plan developed by the manager regarding the risks arising from environmental, organizational and human resources. As a result of the research, it was determined that the hotel management has different plans and units according to the source of the crisis. It has been observed that there are ready units in terms of the standard crises that are encountered regularly. However, it has been determined that there are no predetermined units or teams for large-scale and rare crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chapter 6 ‘Crisis Management in Tourism: COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece’, the authors Panoraia Poulaki, Ilias Stavrakakis, Dimitrios Tarazonas, Nikolaos Vasilakis and Marco Valeri present a crisis management plan in tourism and specifically of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece, commonly accepted, which can contribute decisively to dealing with adverse effects. This strategic plan for crisis management in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic is reflected in the present study. Specialists involved in crisis management have presented comprehensive national strategies to ensure timely, valid and clear advice and information.

In Chapter 7 ‘The Impact of River Tourism on the Development of the Demarcated Regions in Specific (Post-pandemic Crisis) Contexts: The Case of Cruise Ships’, the authors Bruno Sousa, Laurentina Vareiro, Ana Rita Marques, Vasco Ribeiro Santos and Marco Valeri explore the impact of river tourism, particularly cruise ships, on the (post-pandemic crisis) development of the Alto Douro Wine Region. For this theme’s development, the authors chose to use a qualitative methodology, conducting four semi-structured interviews with participants directly or indirectly linked to the Douro River’s cruise ship industry.

In Chapter 8 ‘Data Breaches in the Hotel Sector According to General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679)’ the author Anastasios Thomaidis examines the impacts of GDPR in the hotel sector. Specifically the author examines the crisis of data breach due to accidents, mistakes and deliberate actions during data collection of hotel's customers. Furthermore the case of security breach by cyber hackers is analyzed. In this chapter Anastasios Thomaidis proposes actions to bolster data security and avoid the risk of breaches.

In Chapter 9 ‘The Influence of Tourists' Visit Intention Attributes of Recovery Aspect on Destination Image in the Post-crisis’, the authors Albattat Ahmad, Nini Shaliza, Mohd Zuraimi and Azizul Jamaludin examined the mediated role of media influence between the aspects of relationship that affected the recovery of the economy following post-crises, supported by three aspects: restoration of confidence, performance of stakeholders and the response with media influenced as a mediator.

In Chapter 10 ‘Efficient Healthcare Policy and Engineering Management Facilities for Planning Sustainable Tourism Development in Post-COVID-19 Crisis Recovery’, the authors Tilemachos Koliopoulos and Marco Valeri present useful results that are focused on an efficient healthcare tourism policy and engineering management solutions so as to promote a sustainable tourism. These are outlined in terms of efficient sustainable construction design practices in terms of health – safety for tourists, proper qualitative facilities, protecting public health, supporting healthcare services and infrastructures within regional ecological, cultural, heritage, spiritual, gastronomic, river, sea and sports tourism. Useful results of this study highlight the importance of environmental public health–related perceived risks and impact of COVID-19 at tourism crisis.

In Chapter 11 ‘Tourism in Crisis: The Impact of Climate Change on the Tourism Industry’, the authors Dimitrios Belias, Ioannis Rossidis and Marco Valeri analyze the effects of climate change on the tourism industry and in particular the effects of climate change on tourist demand and how destinations can deal with the possible effects of climate change.

Chapter 12 ‘New Challenges in Tourism Management in the Face of the Global Climate Change Crisis’ by Małgorzata Kurleto focuses on the most serious problems facing tourism in times of global crisis caused by climate change. The analysis attempts to present the relationship between tourism management and the impact of climate change on tourism regions. The study focuses on risk management in tourism. The subject of this analysis is also the importance of an integrated plan for a crisis in a tourist destination and its recovery after a natural disaster. The conducted research showed a synergistic relationship between tourism and climate change which is based on the fact that tourism (especially mass tourism) contributes to climate change, causing an increase in natural disasters (e.g. fires) negatively affecting the natural environment and its participants, including tourists.

Chapter 13 ‘Overtourism Effect Management in Destinations’ by Viktoriia Y. Redko, Nataliya O. Krasnikova, and Oleksandr P. Krupskyi analyzes the causes of the overtourism effect in urban, infrastructural and natural destinations, which at the same time degrades the quality of the tourist experience and the life quality of the local population. This study proposes tools to manage the economic, social and environmental risks associated with the oversaturation of tourist destinations.

Chapter 14 ‘The Missing Link between Dark Tourism and Tourism Management’ by María de-Miguel-Molina, Daniel Catalá-Pérez, Blanca de-Miguel-Molina and Virginia Santamarina-Campos focuses on whether the relationship between dark tourism and tourism management exists, especially when a disaster occurs, going beyond traditional short-term crisis-recovery approaches (repairing, reconstructing, assessing the damages and so on) and advocating for long-term and forward-looking solutions. The chapter addresses overlooked and neglected key factors that are deemed of the utmost relevance on understanding how sustainable dark tourism attractions are originated in the aftermath of a disaster.

Chapter 15 ‘Territorial Dynamics and Environmental Risks in the Costa Branca Coast, Northeastern Brazil’ by Wendson Dantas de Araújo Medeiros and Rosa Maria Rodrigues Lopes explores the recent territorial dynamics in the municipalities of Areia Branca, Grossos and Tibau, as a way to contribute to territorial planning actions at the Costa Branca Pole and to provide a model of tourism development resilient to crises arising from the performance of environmental risks.

In Chapter 16 ‘Tourism Behaviours as a Proactive Contribution to Social Balances of Destinations’, the authors António Sérgio Araújo de Almeida, João Paulo Jorge and Sarah Springwald explore some practices associated with the experience, perceptions and environmental awareness of tourists in situations of pressure and risk, at various levels, as promoters of sustainability and local identity values.

In Chapter 17 ‘Spiritual Tourism Transition: An Ethos of Hope during COVID-19 Crisis from Indian Perspectives’, the authors Suneel Kumar Shekhar, Marco Valeri and Geetanjali Sageena analyze the impact of COVID-19 in triggering the travel motives of spiritual tourists and its consequences for the transition in Indian tourism industry. As the pandemic embraced India, it generated several mental issues such as anxiety, depression and stress among the population. Surfacing through the restrictive COVID-19 regime invoked increased spirituality levels, further deepening their psychology to undertake spiritual tourism.

Chapter 18 ‘The Remote Effects of Terrorism on Tourists’ Notions of Risk and Safety’ by Christer Eldh and Malin Zillinger describes and analyzes tourists’ argumentations about risk and safety while travelling. Empirical results stem from international travelers who live in Sweden. Results show that terrorism is not understood as a major threat during travel. Another result shows that risk and safety are strongly interrelated. The travellers in this study are actually striving for some kinds of challenges. Travelling should not be boring. Actually, one can say that if people were not longing for otherness, the adventure and the search for the unknown, tourism as such would historically not exist. The tricky question is how to balance within this equation of risk and safety, a place in the equilibrium that fits into minds of the individual travelers. Speaking of challenges, this is a challenge first and foremost for destination managers.