The tourism industry is vulnerable to crises and disasters and increasingly government and
industry stakeholders are turning their attention to how to prevent, manage and recover from
shock events. In the last decade there has been increasing interest in tourism research on crises
and disasters, prompted in part by recognition of the tourism industry's vulnerabilities and what
appear to be more frequent shock events. The beginning of this century has been marked by a
series of crises and disasters including the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in the United
Kingdom, the 2001 terrorist hijackings in the USA, the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, the 2003
SARS epidemic in southeast Asia and Canada, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane
Katrina in the southern USA in 2005 (Henderson, 2007). The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (2007a) has also predicted that the extreme weather events associated with
climate change will lead to more natural disasters. Crises and disaster have local, regional and
global repercussions on the tourism industry at business/corporate, industry and destination
levels and the need for more attention to preparation, response and recovery is acknowledged.
Much of the initial tourism research in this field focused on descriptions of crises and disasters
and their impacts on tourism with some reflection on their management. This foundation and the
comprehensive crisis and disaster literature from disciplines such as psychology, sociology,
economics, geography and environmental science led to development of crisis and disaster
management frameworks specifically designed for the tourism industry. These frameworks have
achieved varying degrees of acceptance amongst tourism researchers with Faulkner and
Vikulov's (2001) Tourism Disaster Management Framework (TDMF) being the most well
known and often cited. The more recent Crisis and Disaster Management Framework (CDMF)
developed by Ritchie (2004) is a useful destination-level framework based on a strategic
management approach.
Despite the development of these frameworks, relatively little tourism research effort has
focused on destination recovery and very little on medium and long term recovery. In addition,
there is little research on wildfires as a type of natural disaster. The extensive bushfires in the
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in 2003 (often referred to as the Canberra fires) provided an
opportunity to investigate in a longitudinal study the short, medium and long term actions
undertaken by the government and tourism industry to assist destination recovery and then
compare them with Ritchie's prescriptive CDMF. Being longer term research this study is able
to consider almost the entire recovery stage whereas other research has focused on short or
medium term recovery (for example Faulkner & Vikulov, 2001).
This research centred on a case study which is defined by Yin (1989 quoted in Wimmer &
Dominick, 1997, p. 102) as an 'empirical inquiry that uses multiple sources of evidence to
investigate a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context'. This case study used
interviewing, the documentary method and participant observation as the key methods.
Representatives of government and the tourism industry were interviewed in-depth about the
actions taken by their organisations or businesses. The interviews were semi-structured with
mostly open-ended questions and some participants undertook multiple interviews over a three
year period. Extensive secondary data and documentation about the bushfire and subsequent
response and recovery was generated by the ACT government, industry and community and
publicly available sources included reports and reviews, media releases, newspaper articles,
newsletters, brochures, websites and legal and coronial enquiries. These were critical for
gaining a comprehensive understanding of recovery. Participant observation was also important
and, as a resident of the ACT, the author participated in relevant events and observed the public
face of community recovery.
The three methods resulted in a large data set that was distilled into a 'response and recovery
story' structured according to Ritchie's CDMF. Upon comparing the findings with the
framework, it was found that many elements were evident in the 'real life' case study including
crisis communication, resource management, stakeholder communication, destination
restoration and disasters as agents for change. There were also new findings that could be
integrated into a redeveloped framework including the establishment of a recovery team,
training for crisis and disaster management, tourist/visitor management, recovery planning,
human resource management issues, business recovery tools, partnerships and memorialisation
and commemoration. The resulting Tourism Industry Crisis and Disaster Management
Framework (TICDMF) is a practical and comprehensive tool for Destination Management
Organisations (DMOs) that both describes what occurred in a real life case study but also
prescribes recommended management actions.
In addition to specific recommendations for the ACT tourism industry, this research also
resulted in general recommendations to the tourism industry, government and educators. These
focused on (i) the importance of crisis and disaster management planning, (ii) the need to
evaluate and document response and recovery and devote adequate resources to organisational
learning, (iii) potential use of tools like the TICDMF and the plethora of resources to manage
crises and disasters, (iv) educating staff, academics and tertiary tourism and hospitality students
about crisis and disaster management and (v) accepting the chaos of recovery and devoting
adequate resources to address the resulting complexity.
The tourism industry is vulnerable to external shocks whether they be local crises or national
disasters. The preparedness of the industry and its ability to effectively respond and recover is of
critical importance for destinations and the community in which they function. Case studies of
crises and disaster and development of a body of theoretical and practical knowledge will ensure
that government and industry continue to play an important role in caring for the safety and
security of tourists while maintaining a viable and sustainable industry for all stakeholders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/203493 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Armstrong, Elizabeth Kate, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. n/a |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Elizabeth Kate Armstrong |
Page generated in 0.0027 seconds