This thesis is about global catastrophic risks and the conscious effect of such risks at the level of everyday life. Utilising R. D. Laing's concept of "ontological security", this thesis questions the extent to which risks that loom in the global environment cause a sense of ontological insecurity amongst individuals at the local-level. In addressing this question, this thesis responds to the theories of Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens who maintain that the contemporary age is marked both by the emergence of global risks that exist as the unintended consequences of modernisation and a greater sense of risk owing to how information about such risks is disseminated by the media. While no objection is made to the argument that the global environment has become more objectively threatening, this thesis questions whether individuals in fact perceive such threat in their daily lives. This argument rests on the view that global risks, in the main, lack a tangible dimension needed to elicit a sense of urgency. Seeking to ground the risk literature from the level of theoretical abstraction to that of lived experience, this thesis presents a case study of how risk is perceived in the tourist-dependent township of Akaroa. Despite the fact that New Zealand is generally seen as "safe" and "secure" and removed from the vicissitudes of global events, its economic reliance on international tourism ensures a susceptibility to external forces that disrupt global tourism flows. Given the recent publicity as to how such risks as climate change and peak oil may undermine international tourism in New Zealand, it is clear that areas that are particularly reliant on the international visitor market, like Akaroa, are significantly exposed to global events. This not only makes Akaroa an ideal case study in which to establish the extent to which global risks undermine ontological security in daily life, it also helps measure how seriously individuals in tourist-dependent areas consider the possibility of a substantial tourist decline.

Denna forskningsstudie undersöker de utmaningar som hotell i Sverige har stått inför på grund av Covid-19-pandemin. Närmare bestämt analyserar studien hur dessa hotell reagerade på krisen. Det råder ingen tvekan om att pandemin har drabbat den globala turistsektorn väldigt kraftigt. Miljontals arbetstillfällen har gått förlorade, och länder vars ekonomier som är beroende av turism står inför de värsta ekonomiska lågkonjunkturerna i historien.  Sektorn vänder sig dock i dag till innovation för att stödja återöppnandet och en återgång till lönsamhet. I Sverige har sektorn tagit till sig innovativa lösningar, bland annat genom att öka konkurrenskraften och bygga upp motståndskraft genom strategier som att främja inhemsk och regional turism, ekonomisk diversifiering och underlättandet av en mer gynnsam arbetsmiljö för mikroföretag, små och medelstora företag. Andra strategier som har hjälpt att strategiskt öppna sektorn i denna tid under pandemin är den digitala omvandlingen av hela turismekonomin genom att investera i digital kompetens för arbetstagare som har förlorat sina arbeten och inkomstkälla under pandemin.  Studiens syfte är att analysera de krishanteringsstrategier som svenska hotell implementerade i början av Covid-19-pandemin. För att uppnå studiens syfte används semistrukturerade intervjuer som den primära datainsamlingsmetoden. Det kommer genomföras intervjuer med fem olika hotelldirektörer från Sveriges största hotellkedjor. / This research study explores the challenges that hotels in Sweden have faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, it assesses how these organizations responded to the crisis. There is no doubt that the pandemic has hit the global tourism sector very heavily. Indeed, millions of jobs have been lost, with countries whose economies are dependent on tourism facing the worst economic recessions in their collective history.  The sector is today turning to innovation to support its re-opening and a return to profitability. In Sweden, the sector has embraced innovative solutions, including boosting competitiveness and building resilience through strategies such as promoting domestic and regional tourism, economic diversification, and the facilitation of a conducive business environment for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. Other strategies that have aided the strategic re-opening of the sector during the pandemic is the digital transformation of the entire tourism economy by promoting investments in digital skills for workers who have lost their jobs and livelihoods during the pandemic.  Against this backdrop, this study’s key objective is to analyze the crisis-management strategies adopted and implemented by Swedish hotels at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will deploy semi-structured interviews as the primary data-collection approach to achieve this goal. Five interviews with executives in five of the largest hotel chains in Sweden will be conducted.