Economic Feedback Loops: Crisis Communication Methods and Exhibited by the Travel and Tourism Industry During the COVID19 Pandemic

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the resiliency exhibited by the travelTravel and tourismTourism industries during the COVID19COVID-19 pandemic. Through quick responses focused on risk management and crisis communication, the industries have become more poised to focus on their post-COVID19 future. The travel industry was greatly affected by the COVID19 pandemic. From significant decreases in check-ins and ticket sales to expensive enhanced cleaning procedures, the transportation and hotelHotels industries continue to experience economic hardships. Since the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, the World Travel and TourismTourism Council (World Travel and Tourism Council (Recovery scenarios 2020 and economic impact from COVID19: America’s recovery scenarios updates. Retrieved from https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact/Recovery-Scenarios/moduleId/1902/ ) indicates over 10.8 million travel and tourism jobs were lost in the United States. In addition to the job losses, the travel and tourism industry has lost 907 billion dollars in GDP in 2020. Despite the financial and job losses experienced by the travel and tourism industries, they have had to quickly develop communication policies, procedures, and marketing techniques to prevent further losses. This chapter focuses on the external crisis communication and pandemic communication techniques adopted by U.S. based hotelHotels chains and airlinesAirlines during the COVID19COVID-19 pandemic. Best practices for pandemic-based crisis communication for the travelTravel and tourismTourism industries will also be presented during this chapter.