! ! ! ! Student Name: Ambarose Carter
! Student Number: 83750T
! Subject Name: Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management
! Lecturer Name: Victor Ashelford
! Name of Assessment: Essay
! Date: Sunday 9 November
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Ambarose Carter
Page !1 of !7
83750T
The tourism, hospitality and events industry produce a high level of risk for crisis and disaster situations, ultimately impacting the overall success of the industries. Most crisis and disaster situations are unpredictable within the tourism, hospitality and events industry, such as terrorism. Terrorism disrupts the flow of all three industries, and leads to tourists, guests or attendees to search for alternative “safer” options. The tourism industry is highly vulnerable to crisis situations like terrorism, especially when there is a high level of perceived risk, low trust in the government or a weak crisis management plan predetermined. The hospitality industry faces similar factors when the level of risk is highlighted through situations of terrorism. Hotels seem to have weaker security, high degree of access and have a high media coverage in situations of a terrorist attack. Similarly, the events industry also highlights vulnerability due to the occurrence of megaevents, underlining the presence of high level of risks. The crisis of terrorism requires risk treatment options which then need to be managed through an emergency risk management plan. Overall, there are factors that influence the level of risk for the occurrence of a crisis or disastrous situation within the tourism, events and hospitality industry.
! International tourism flows are subject to disruption due to a number of events, consequently, leading tourists to search for alternative destinations. Major disruptions to the tourism industry, as a result of crises and disasters, have impeded on the tourism industry as a whole. While there are many types of crises and disasters that can impact tourism, every one is distinct. Sonmez et al. (1999) suggests that terrorism would have an higher impact on tourism than natural disaster. Moreover, while a natural disaster can impede the flow of tourism, terrorism risk tends to intimidate the traveling public more severely, as demonstrated by the realignment of travel flows and cancellation of vacations during periods of heightened terrorist activity (Campiranon 2008). A risk factor that is associated with terrorism is vulnerability. Vulnerability can be defined as ‘susceptibility to attack’ (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 2007), and it remains crucial for organisations to reduce susceptibility in order to ensure business continuity and profitability (McEntire 2005). For a tourist destination to have a high perceived level of risk and a weak crisis risk management set in place, the higher level of risk for the event of a terrorist attack. Additionally, other factors that come into play which heighten the level of risk for terrorism is their trust in the government. Hamelin et al. (n.d. p 231) suggests that the degree to which individuals admit to low faith in government concern seems to be an important driver for the intention towards violent action. The tourism industry will then Ambarose Carter
Page !2 of !7
83750T
almost certainly have lower tourist numbers with the severity of the outcome to be major, resulting in an extreme level of risk; which will then likely affect the profit margins to decrease with a severe outcome, highlighting an extreme level of risk; as well as the likelihood of loss of reputation for the destination with significant or major consequences, producing a medium to high level of risk. Overall, there are many factors that influence crisis and disaster within the tourism industry, heightening the level of risk associated with terrorism.
! The hospitality industry (focusing on hotels) is also susceptible from the disturbance of crises and disasters that emerge, altering the choice of accommodation guests search for. All three industries have an inter-relation, meaning that if the tourism industry is effected by terrorism, the hospitality industry will also be influenced. As hotels have weaker security measures compared with governmental or military facilities, they are more exposed to terrorist threats. Furthermore, hotels are also targets for their brand names, location, and the media coverage produced by attacking them (Som et al 2013). Additionally, another factor that comes into play that heightens the level of risk of terrorism crises is that hotels offer a high degree of access. Security is limited within the architecture of the buildings, as publicising these measures would ignite unfounded fear for their guests. Similarly to the tourism industry, the threat of terrorism has a negative impact on the hospitality industry due to concerns about travel safety, which may result in the reduction of both business and leisure travel. This would then result in a moderate likelihood of the hotel to go out of business, which will cause a significant to major consequence, concluding with a medium to high level of risk; additionally, their reputation will falter with the risk of this occurring to be likely, creating major consequences for the company, highlighting a very high level of risk. All in all, the hospitality industry will be just as affected by crisis and disastrous situations in addition to the tourism industry.
! The events industry, although interrelated with the other two industries, doesn’t necessarily profit off them. In the context of terrorism, if the tourism and hospitality industry is disrupted by this, the events will be effected but not to the same extent. However, similar factors apply within the events industry that increase the level of risk associated with threats of terrorism. As like the tourism industry, the events industry is also highly vulnerable to crises like terrorism, especially mega-events. Mega-events consist of a large scale of people gathered in one area for a certain period of time, mostly occurring outside. The vulnerability of the event is high associated with an extreme level of risk for a terrorist Ambarose Carter
Page !3 of !7
83750T
attack to occur. Most events are open to the public, some with limited security, others with high security, nevertheless, it is susceptible to an attack. Therefore, mega-events pose significant opportunities, challenges and liabilities for governments and businesses. Therefore, in the rare situation of a terrorist attack, it is then likely that the event will be terminated, ending in a significant consequence, positioning it at a high level of risk; profit margins will likely deplete, causing a major outcome with a very high level of risk; the reputation and the popularity of the event will almost certainly fluctuate, causing the severity of the outcome to be significant for the company, concluding its a very high level of risk; as well as the overall viewpoint that mega-events aren’t safe which is likely to occur resulting in a major outcome for all event business, ending with a very high level of risk. The events industry, just like the tourism and hospitality industry, can be inconvenienced by a range of crises and disasters, especially terrorism, ultimately influencing the level of risk associated with the risk factors of terrorism.
! While managing tourism, hospitality and events crisis appears difficult in itself, it should also be recognised that crisis is unpredictable which means it is no longer a question of whether crises will happen, but rather when and how best they can be dealt with (Campiranon 2008). Planning for emergencies should consider several internal factors such as collaboration, communication, and control. But the most important internal factor is the management’s commitment to adopt and develop an emergency management plan, which will be a strong guidance and updated message to communicate before, during, and after the crisis (Faulkner, 2001). An emergency risk management plan for crisis and disasters advocated by Faulkner (2001) begins with proactive planning and emergency preparedness which includes hazard scanning, issue management; forecasting; risk reduction; following with adopting and developing plans. The second part of the plan is preparedness and planning implementation, involving the planning evaluation and control; disaster communication; resource management and stakeholder collaboration. The last part suggests evaluation, resolution and learning which involves resolution and restoration as well as organisational learning. Faulkner and Vikulov (2001) and Ritchie (2004), then proposed that the disaster responses would be categorised into six stages: pre-event phase, when planning for the disasters and trying to prevent and mitigate their effects; prodormal phase, the need to activate the managerial plans where the hospitality industry has no choice of avoidance and must face the hazards; emergency phase, when the disaster strikes and begins doing damage to the destination; intermediate phase, where emergency plans should be adopted to help people and satisfy their needs; recovery Ambarose Carter
Page !4 of !7
83750T
phase, where the long-term plans should be applied and affected destination should be rebuilt; and finally in the resolution phase, crisis management should be evaluated and improved and organisational learning should be undertaken, to plan for the next hazards and try to mitigate the effect of the next disasters. By businesses within the tourism, hospitality and events industry adopting this proposed emergency risk management plan, they would be able to manage all different crises and disastrous situation which arise.
! There are many crises and disasters that can impact the tourism, hospitality and events industries in their own unique ways. Terrorism, being one, which highly effects all industries in to similar extents. Tourism is strongly impacted by terrorism, with the risks of low tourists numbers, low profit margins and loss of reputation. This is similarly highlighted in the hospitality industry where terrorism has jeopardised their reputation as a hotel business and decreased their profits due to the lower number of guests. The events industry is also struck by similar factors where their reputation as an event will diminish as well as their profit margins. As highlighted, crisis and disastrous situations can affect all three industries, tourism, hospitality and events due to their unpredictability, however with a strong emergency plan like Faulkner and Vikulov (2001) and Ritchie (2004) proposed plan, the risks and consequences of terrorism will be lessened. Ultimately, the level of risk behind the crisis of terrorism is highly depended on the factors that influence that risk and with strong risk treatment options, these crises and disasters will be managed.
! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! Word Count: 1, 926
! Ambarose Carter
Page !5 of !7
83750T
REFERENCES
!
Albattat, A, R., Som, A, P. 2013. Emergency Preparedness for Disasters and Crises in the Hotel Industry. Available: http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/3/3/2158244013505604 (accessed 8 November 2014)
!
Campiranon, K. 2008. Factors Influencing Tourism Crisis Vulnerability. Available: https://www.academia.edu/1455659/ FACTORS_INFLUENCING_TOURISM_CRISIS_VULNERABILITY (accessed 8 November 2014)
!
Faulkner B. 2001. Towards a framework for tourism disaster management. Tourism Management, 22, p 135-147.
!
Faulkner B., Vikulov S. (2001). Katherine, washed out one day, back on track the next: A post-mortem of a tourism disaster. Tourism Management, 22, 331-344. Available: http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/3/3/2158244013505604 (accessed 8 November 2014)
!
Hamelin, N., Aznay, H, et al. n.d. Trigger Factors of Terrorism: Social Marketing Analysis as a Tool for Security Studies – a Moroccan Case Study. p 231. Available: http://www.emuni.si/press/ISSN/1855-3362/3_223-250.pdf (accessed 8 November 2014)
!
McEntire, D. 2005. "Why Vulnerability Matters: Exploring the Merit of an Inclusive Disaster Reduction Concept." Disaster Prevention and Management 14(2): p.206-223.
!
Ritchie B. W. (2004). Chaos, crises and disasters: A strategic approach to crisis management in the tourism industry. Tourism Management, 25, 669-683. Available: http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/3/3/2158244013505604 (accessed 8 November 2014)
!
Sonmez, S., Y. Apostolopoulos, et al. 1999. "Tourism in Crisis: Managing the Effects of Terrorism." Journal of Travel Research. 38 (1) p.13-18.
! Ambarose Carter
Page !6 of !7
83750T
‘vulnerable’ n.d. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 2007. Available: https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html? q=vulnerable&submit.x=51&submit.y=22 (accessed 8 November 2014)
Ambarose Carter
Page !7 of !7
83750T
