Question 1
Crisis in tourism can be considered a process, or various processes that are put in place for handling unforeseen situations that usually threaten an organization, cooperation or business as well as a group or a person. Crises often take place without any warning in prior for preparation, hence creating uncertain circumstances. In such situation, it is essential to put plans in place that can be swiftly be executed for either position actions to remedy the circumstance or decreasing potential impact of the crisis to settle the circumstance in a given appropriate period.
For example, not most nations have overall tourism surety procedures, and very few of them have trained their law enforcement teams in tourism-oriented policing strategies. Additionally to the tourism surety challenges are issues with health. Health issues not only create sick situations it usually creates a great deal of harm to a nation economic viability. On the contrary, risk in tourism is a continuous process where potential threats are identified, and solutions are put into consideration to avoid the same risks. Managing risks often are regarded to be much more proactive, while at the same time crises management is reactive. By nature risk management is proactive and has to ensure the probability instead of consequences of various actions that take place.
Ritchie (27) contends that it’s the responsibility of tourists and destinations to ensure that crisis and disaster should be effectively taken care of earlier before the incidents occur. This is, however, true because tourism has, more often emerged as one of the world's largest and the fastest –growing economic services. For this reason, it has also become among the most widely adopted development strategies at the national as well as regional levels. Crisis and risk management recognize that here is a need to be ready for crisis incidences and provide efficiency pattern of repose to occurrences. A risk management pattern provides the opportunity for an organization or a destination to prepare for and manage crisis and therefore reduces the potential impacts that might accompany it.
These impacts can prove serve, not only in consideration of life loss or damage of property but also in negative media coverage. The essence of risk management is for assessing possible things that can go wrong within a destination or in a tourism organization, for determining the most significant risk and implementation strategies for dealing with the same risks. Once a crisis takes place, the need for crises management plan is put into consideration. This typically demands efficient leadership that is received within an organization and usually the formation of crisis management team. Faulkner especially emphasized that tourism is vulnerable to disasters and being fragmented, the response can be challenging to initiate and coordinate. However, strategic approach to managing disaster and crises is essential for any tourism organization.
Question 2
It would seem to any casual observer that tourism has turned to increased subjected roles, crises, and disasters that pose threats to the tourism industry itself and the contribution to destination development. In fact, over the last few years, tourism has undergone various economic, political as well as environmental disasters that have had not only a significant effect on tourism industry both as a nation and globally, but also it has contributed to an ever increasing frequency. For instance, in the late 1990s, terrorism-related incidences occurred such as Luxor massacre in 1997 and the abduction and allowed the murder of tourists in Yemen and murder of American and British in Uganda in 1999 (Faulkner 136). Similarly, in 1997, Southeast Asia underwent a major tourism downturn as an effect of regional economic crises and environmental pollution from forests fires in Indonesia. These incidences not only brought a significant decrease in the flow of tourists both regionally and globally and also contributed to the perception that international tourism undergoes an increasingly constant array of crises and disaster.
Discussion
Various points have however to be emphasized on. First, it has for long be well known that tourism shows a high susceptible and responsive force as an effect of influence to shocks to perceived destination factors that include inferior health and sanitary conditions, overcrowding or risks to tourist, or unhealthy food. In other words, a history that involves the modern international tourism is replete with instances that involve economic crises as well as global economic, health scares, environmental disasters, terrorist activity, political upheaval and warfare – all of which have had influences on the scale and direction of flow of tourists (Glaesser 59). As a matter of fact, a tourism destination in all international corners undergoes particular certainty of knowledge of undergoing a disaster from one form to the other at a given point in their past.
Secondly, even though for the most part tourism literature is regarded as the influence of such a crisis and disaster circumstances – when it comes to the flow of tourists to various destinations – there has to be a recognition made that individual organizations or specific tourists sectors of travel and tourism sections also undergo disasters and crises hence making them require immediate and appropriate disaster and crises management response. In essence, these may be self-induced, considering that case of airline crashes that came. As a result of mechanical failure or human error or can additionally occur from unexpected or external sources that include terrorist attacks among other attacks that take place without the knowledge of the organization. There, however, might be additional crises insistence that takes place as a result of various factors, for instance, the impact of SARS on international travel in 2003 operated for highlighting longer-term inherent economic frailty of most airlines internationally (Beirman 476). They might as well be linked purposely for a wider disaster, hijacking of an aircraft that was subsequent flow such as the event that took place in the World Trade Center. Therefore, an effective precaution should be implemented between various elements of tourism system with major disasters embracing various ‘sub-disasters,’ which additionally demands management or repose from an organization.
Finally, there is evidence that in fact illustrates that crises and disaster in tourists frequent and numerous, but infinitely variable in nature as well, duration, intensity ensures recovery and impact. Therefore, while various occurrences that include hurricanes in the Caribbean might have accompanied with them, short-term effects on the management of tourism and tourism industry, cost, and flow that relates to rebuilding and repair various destinations that have undergone long-term effects such as Northern Ireland. Even though much attention has been paid to the fact that relates to health and tourism, little awareness has however been given to the impacts of health scares on tourist flows. Various examples explain the relevance between health and its impacts on travelers, such as widespread of food poisoning in the Dominican Republic in the 1990s and one most recent incident such as the SARS outbreak (Tsai & Chen 478). Conversely, the impact that crime has on tourism is however appropriately documented, and the attacks on unwary tourists such as the one that took place in Florida in the early 90s is a particular example.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these points suggest that there, in fact, should be crisis management strategies in tourist destinations to respond to potential disasters. In other words, given the virtual inevitability that other forms of crises might have on social as well as an economic consequence, regionally, locally or even globally, there is a necessity for tourist destinations to have an appropriate and effective mechanism in place to ensure emergencies ad crises before the actual occurrence, are managed. Effective management should not only be ensured where relevant, and tourist safety security exists but additionally given an ever increased dependence that focuses on tourism as a means of achieving socio-economic achievements, to assist in the rapid growth of tourism sectors. Inevitably, the frequent and diverse, the unpredictability of possible crises implies that not all eventualities can be planned for. Nevertheless, a general framework for management of tourist crises can be proposed for addressing fundamental challenges of crises in tourism.
Works Cited
Beirman, David. "Restoring tourism destinations in crisis: a strategic marketing approach."Tourism Management 26.3 (2005): 475-476. Print.
Faulkner, Bill. "Towards a framework for tourism disaster management." Tourism Management22.2 (2001): 135-147. Print.
Glaesser, Dirk. Crisis Management in the Tourism Industry. Oxford [U.K.: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2006. Print.
Ritchie, Brent W. Crisis and Disaster Management for Tourism. Bristol: Channel View Publications, 2009. Print.
Tsai, Chung-Hung, and Cheng-Wu Chen. "An earthquake disaster management mechanism based on risk assessment information for the tourism industry-a case study from the island of Taiwan." Tourism Management 31.4 (2010): 470-481. Print.
