Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
34
Post-disaster recovery marketing
for tourist destinations
Gabby Walters and Judith Mair
Introduction
Climate change, terrorist attacks and natural disasters are all potentially devastating for tourist
destinations. Some of the climate change impacts that are projected to increase over the next
50-100 years include more frequent severe weather events (for example, hurricanes, cyclones
and typhoons), the increased risk of bush fi re in some areas of the world, brought on by reduced
rainfall, and conversely, the increased risk of fl ooding in other areas (IPCC 2007). Terrorist
attacks such as 9/11, the Bali bombings and the attacks in London on 7/7 are rare, but nonetheless
cause signifi cant and long lasting problems. Finally, natural disasters such as earthquakes and
volcanoes, while not necessarily more common than previously, have the potential to damage or
destroy ever-growing towns, cities and infrastructure around the world.
The terms 'crisis' and 'disaster' are often used interchangeably, but it is important to note that
they refer to slightly different situations, and that each has its own defi nition. The most commonly
cited defi nition is that coined by Faulkner (2001: 136), who stated that a disaster is 'a situation
where an enterprise or destination is confronted with sudden unpredictable catastrophic changes
over which it has little control'. A crisis on the other hand is 'a situation where the root cause of
the event is, to some extent, self-infl icted through such problems as inept management structures
or practices, or a failure to adapt to change' (Faulkner 2001: 136). This chapter examines natural
disasters, and while there may be some elements of poor planning and management that reveal
themselves during a disaster, the chapter will not examine crises.
It is important for tourist destinations to be aware of their vulnerability to disasters, whether
man-made or not. Disaster management plans should be integrated into all tourism business and
operating plans at both a national and operational level. Yet, despite the obvious risks, many
tourism organizations and businesses have not been well prepared when a disaster strikes, and
have relied instead on ad hoc responses (Ritchie 2008; Walters and Mair 2012). Research to help
tourism destinations assess how best to recover has been relatively scarce, and in many cases very
descriptive (Carlsen and Liburd 2008). However, literature is building in this area (Prideaux,
Coghlan and Falco-Mammone 2008), and research is beginning to demonstrate that such ad
hoc measures, especially in marketing, may be ineffective and in some cases do more damage
than good.
