The Tourism Industry
Tourism is a vast, and illustrious industry that contributes about $7.7 trillion to the Global GDP (Gross Domestic Product). It is a global industry with significant impact as it creates room for cultural exchanges, and also provides an understanding of cultural differences, yet brings together people from various cultures to experience the world with a different lens other than their own. The tourism sector also impacts local infrastructure development and helps in improving transportation, providing opportunities for people to venture and invest in these localities. As large as the tourism sector is, some crises have a looming impact at the expense of this sector, which can only be dealt with with better planning and preparedness of the situations and the chances of their recurrence.
Crises-Comprehension In The Tourism Sector
Tourism is a sector that is very large and complex as it consists of many different factors involved. This business is an amalgamation of products and services, and so it includes a lot of logistics involved which include transportation, hospitality, safety, nature of the region and its people. A crisis in the form of natural disasters or man-made problems can affect the smooth functioning of this sector. Hence comprehending the problems and preparing a response to them would be a go-to initiative to take.
The approach should be to create an integrated crisis management setup with coordinated and collaborative initiatives at all levels of the system, including society, government and relevant stakeholders.
For example, natural disasters like floods, and hurricanes disrupt the infrastructure and dismantle the basic functioning of the place, or like the COVID pandemic where there were no flight operations, closed borders, and closed hotels due to lockdowns which caused the tourism sector to come to a complete halt. Such problems were new to the world then, and unique problems need to be well understood to be dealt with. Social distancing, layoffs an
Need For Anticipated Measures
Since the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, the extent of the impact a crisis could have on the tourism sector has been understood. The consequent actions should be to ideate and draft suitable measures to negate such challenges if a situation of a similar nature had to occur. Finding better alternatives, and helping to maintain the limitations of the sector thereby also managing the crisis should be a priority. Identifying the potential risks and providing solutions to help the sector survive and overcome the challenges during the temporary nature of the crisis.
For example, For a hurricane-prone zone, specific strategies about the area can be devised like having an evacuation plan and designing buildings that are resistant to earthquakes and other disasters. Infrastructure in Taiwan and Japan are designed as earthquake-resistant buildings as most parts of their land are in the seismic movement zone. Such measures when devised and strategised help in maintaining the safety of the travellers and protecting the infrastructure of the place by minimising the damage.
Clarity And Effective Communication
When it comes to crises, clarity of plan, understanding the level and seriousness of the situation and catering to the crises by devising to manage a plan of action is the key to overcoming it in most situations. Communication also plays a key role, the general public should also be aware of all the measures taken. They can be taken in the loop to support the management of overcoming the crises. By having Open-ended communications it builds a sense of trust and engages people to overcome the challenges together.
For example, Services like satellite phones should be easily available to the people with the responsibility of managing and overcoming these crises. This only helps them to communicate effectively, without any disruptions and create effective strategies in mitigating challenges based on the severity of the situation. Providing real-time updates through social media or official channels, messaging etc so people are aware of their flight cancellations and other such scenarios. At the time of COVID-19, social media turned out to be a very efficient tool in helping people to communicate well, and in the management of crises, with awareness and also helped in handling the situation in a community-based approach with support groups.
Retrieval And Crisis Management Protocols
Overcoming a crisis is a tedious and challenging process. It also requires time for businesses to rebuild both physically and in terms of reputation and the impact natural disasters have had on the overall scenario of the region. The best way to overcome these efficiently with less time is to have market campaigns and create meaningful partnerships with local businesses to attract tourists back to such areas.
An example is the New Orleans area, Which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina due to a lack of planning and execution during the natural disaster in 2005, Causing total infrastructure damage estimated worth $81 billion and loss of life of about 1833 from the hurricane and subsequent flooding. At the time there was a record number of 10.1 million visitors in the area. The aftermath of this disaster brought about several changes to the tourism sector and now the region has strategised ways to recuperate from the devastation as the tourism sector contributes severely to the region’s economy. It started marketing campaigns through festivals, cultural events and other unique experiences to regain its strength as a tourist hub, and regained momentum in 2013 making it reach about 9 million visitors.
Tourism Industry’s Outlook
Tourism is an extremely resilient industry, and despite facing severe challenges in different forms, it emerges strongly. Especially at the time of the pandemic, when tourism became almost completely inactive, it sustained and rebounded beautifully adapting to the new norms and proactively approaching crisis management strategies.
The tourism sector continues to develop and evolve and is constantly learning from the devastations of the past. Tourism now thrives with eco-friendly practices, better transportation, and technological advancements and is connecting people from around the world. As quoted by Albert Einstein: “Amid every crisis lies great opportunity”, the tourism sector has also been able to find its opportunities amidst the crisis.
Citations:
Citations for reports:
Robert O’Halloran and Nicole Alley. Tourism Recovery in the Crisis Management Plans: Natural disasters. International Chrie.
https://ichrie.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/JHTC-case-notes/JHTC-vol-4/JHTC_Vol4Issue3-OHalloran-case.pdf
