Tourism Disaster Planning and Management: From Response and Recovery to Reduction and Readiness

Abstract

Despite the growing number of natural hazards and disasters little research has been conducted on tourism disaster management and planning. Although there have been a growing number of studies in the tourism field on tourism disaster management, most have highlighted, and indeed researched, reactive response and recovery efforts of the tourism industry at the expense of reduction and readiness strategies and initiatives. This paper integrates hazards and emergency planning literature with tourism disaster planning research to examine possible deficiencies and future directions for research in this field. The paper argues that an understanding of tourism disaster planning is only possible through an understanding of literature from the hazards, natural disaster and emergency planning field alongside an analysis of previous tourism disaster planning research. This synthesis suggests a ‘post-disciplinary’ approach to researching and better understanding the problem of tourism disaster planning involving researchers from disciplines such as education, communication, sociology, emergency planning, hazards and tourism. It is hoped that such an approach would lead to a better understanding of tourism disaster planning, reduction and readiness and the development of suitable policies and initiatives from tourism agencies and industry associations to facilitate more effective planning.