Abstract

Keywords

۱٫ Introduction

۲٫ Methodology

۳٫ Findings

۴٫ Future research directions

۵٫ Conclusion

۶٫ Limitations

Impact statement

Author contribution statement

Declaration of competing interest

Acknowledgements

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Appendix 1. Number of publications per journal

Appendix 2. Distribution of conceptual, empirical, review papers and case studies per journal

References

Vitae

Abstract

The hospitality and tourism industry for a variety of reasons is vulnerable to crises of various origins and scope. Thereby, research regarding crises in this industry has received significant attention among scholars. This study presents the results of a qualitative thematic analysis (TA) of the literature concerning crisis management in hospitality and tourism. A total of 207 research publications from 1986 to 2019 were analyzed. The findings revealed eight major themes that emerged in the literature over time. We critically discuss these themes with suggestions and directions for future research in this area. The study also identifies a shortage of scholarly attempt to conceptualize crisis management and thus explores the sensemaking perspective to shed further light on explaining the themes that emerged in the analysis.

۱٫ Introduction

The pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has greatly impacted the tourism industry, among many other economic sectors, worldwide. While the health crisis is not over, and we cannot be certain of how it will evolve and manifest itself further, we observe great changes in business operations and travel behaviors. This prolonged crisis, characterized by high levels of uncertainty and unpredictability, has spurred extensive research in attempts to explain the possible ramifications to tourism and hospitality. Undoubtedly, such research may have valuable insights for both the academic community and industry practitioners. As accurately highlighted by Zenker and Kock (2020), tourism and hospitality scholars have generated considerable crisis-related research over the years. Those authors note that future studies on COVID-19 consequences would benefit from examination of the existing crisis management models to inform their research and should focus on advancing theoretical knowledge and offering new managerial tactics (Zenker & Kock, 2020). We second the authors’ conclusions and thus provide an extensive and comprehensive review of extant research on crisis management in tourism. We synthesize the existing knowledge and discuss possible avenues for future research inquiries.

It is a known fact that the tourism industry presents one of the most economically and socially important industries for many countries. At the same time, the tourism industry is one of the most vulnerable industries to negative events (Henderson, 2002; Jin et al., 2019; Neumayer, 2004; Paraskevas & Altinay, 2013). The susceptibility of the sector to crises and disasters can be explained by several reasons. As many scholars agree, the complex structure of the tourism industry that is expressed in a high level of mutual dependence and interconnection between its stakeholders makes it extremely prone to negative events. Crises have increased in their frequency and complexity (Ritchie, 2004; Vargas-S´ anchez, 2018). The plethora of existing digital media platforms, including social media, also affect a crisis’ lifecycle. Any minor or major crisis situation becomes publicized in no time, forcing destinations to respond quickly and efficiently. Therefore, in today’s reality, crisis management is no longer an extra, but rather a principal and crucial function for tourism destinations and organizations.