Weaving a safety net for the tourism industry to survive disasters

What is it about?

Tourism sectors in virtually every corner of the world have hit rock bottom as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, several frameworks have been proposed for effective disaster management in tourism—a sector highly vulnerable to unavoidable geopolitical and public health uncertainties. However, the crumbling face of tourism, especially in countries like Spain, during the recent pandemic has highlighted the necessity of revising these disaster management models. The authors of a new book on tourism crisis management have summarized a few key lessons and proposed revising the management frameworks for risk reduction during tourism disaster. They emphasize on identifying potential risk factors, monitoring alarm signals, and devising approaches to prepare for future crises.

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Photo by Elizeu Dias on Unsplash

Photo by Elizeu Dias on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Faulkner’s model on tourism disaster management, published in 2001, does not include objective and clear descriptions of early warning signs. However, the tourism industry in Spain—a country receiving tens of millions of tourists every year—was hit badly not only by the global restriction on population movement but also because of the lack of a timely contingency plan for minimizing the impending damage. This underscores the necessity of improving existing disaster mitigation plans by integrating real-time knowledge from global sources. According to the authors, the tourism sector can achieve resilience primarily by cultivating intangible assets, viz., reputation, talent, and perception. KEY TAKEAWAY In conclusion, to safeguard tourism from the impact of unavoidable disasters, governments should aim to integrate diverse stakeholders, including the local community, to develop a sustainable tourism ecosystem, rather than focusing only on increased tourist arrivals.