How to prevent tourists from canceling when a disaster hits the destination: promising measures, crisis-resistant target segment and leveraging peer-to-peer networks.

Natural disasters and terrorism that hit tourist destinations can negatively affect tourism demand. The drop in tourism demand following crises is specifically critical to tourism dependent economies. To reduce the negative effect of such events, preventative measures have to be implemented by tourist destinations. Using open-ended questions, the present study directly asks tourists what measures would prevent them from canceling in the event of an earthquake or a terrorist attack hitting their planned destination. From the wide range of reported preventative measures, several broad themes emerged, the two most frequent of which are: guarantee of safety and provision of up-to-date safety information. Certain markets, such as the Visiting Friends and Relatives Market, emerge as being more “immune” against cancellations in the aftermath of a natural disaster than other segments, making them particular suitable market segments to target during the destination recovery stage. The qualitative setting led to new avenues for destination recovery including involvement of residents in destination recovery using peer-to-peer networks

Residents open their homes to tourists when disaster strikes

Residents are key stakeholders of tourism destinations. Yet, to date, no study has investigated if and how residents can contribute to destination recovery when a disaster hits. The emergence of peer-to-peer networks offers an efficient platform for residents to open their homes to displaced tourists. Such help is particularly critical if key tourist infrastructure is severely damaged. But are residents willing to open their homes and help in other ways? The present study adopts a scenario-based survey research design, including Australians who live in tourism regions and Australian tourists. Results indicate that (1) segments of residents willing to support the tourism industry in disaster situations exist, and (2) tourists are willing to accept residents’ offers of support. The more immediate the emergency, the higher the willingness to help and accept help. These insights point to the potential of involving residents in destination recovery efforts

Essays on reducing vulnerability of tourism destinations to unpredictable crises

Tourism destinations are vulnerable to the occurrence of unpredictable critical events. Critical events range from natural to human-induced events and are increasing in number. Tourism destinations are vulnerable because unpredictable critical events cause drops in tourism demand. Drops in tourist numbers lead to loss of revenue for the affected destinations and negatively impact on tourism businesses and the local community. Therefore, developing strategies to reduce the vulnerability of tourism destinations to crises is critical. Despite a growing body of work on tourism crisis management, little research has focused on developing marketing strategies towards developing resilience. Previous research introduces measures to strengthen tourists’ confidence to travel following a critical event. However, much of this work is descriptive in nature. The tourism crisis management literature highlights the importance of collaboration of different tourism stakeholders. Yet, no study has investigated involvement of residents in tourism crisis management. The current PhD research consists of a number of studies. The first study proposes targeting tourists who are more resistant to crises as a proactive strategy to reduce crisis-vulnerability of tourism destinations. Results of the first study indicate that crisis resistant tourists exist and have distinct characteristics which can be used for targeting them. Results from a second study – which investigates the effectiveness of measures that destinations can take to prevent cancelations – show that the effectiveness of measures varies across different kinds of crises and tourists. In a third study, the potential of peer-to-peer networks to help out in times of a crisis hitting a tourist destination is investigated. Results indicate that residents of tourism destinations are willing to help in times of crisis by opening up their homes and accommodating tourists, especially in the initial emergency situation. There is also evidence of tourists being willing to accept such offers made by residents. Overall it can be concluded from all studies conducted as part of this PhD that tourism destinations can adopt a range of strategies to protect themselves from demand drops following crises. The identified strategies have the potential to help tourism destinations to be more resilient. Targeting crisis-resistant tourists and shaping networks of supportive residents to help with the provision of effective prevention measures are strategies which can reduce and possibly prevent negative consequences of tourism crises

Preventing tourists from canceling in times of crises

Tourism destinations experiencing a crisis are vulnerable to trip cancelations and sudden drops in demand. Little is known about trip cancelations and how to prevent them. Specifically, it is unclear whether the effectiveness of different prevention approaches varies across crises and tourists segments. Using a conjoint design, the present study investigates the comparative stated effectiveness of different prevention approaches in situations where different crises hit a destination. Results indicate that certain prevention actions indeed have the potential to reduce cancelations. The most effective approach is change of accommodation-especially so when combined with an upgrade-followed by information updates and finally the provision of security devices or security staff. The effectiveness of approaches varies across tourists and crises

The multi-family travel market

This chapter explores the potential of peer-to-peer accommodation networks to cater to a market segment with very specific requirements in terms of the size and setup of short-term tourism accommodation: multi-family travel. Hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and even resorts typically offer rooms of different sizes, but rarely spaces large enough to allow two or three families to spend their holidays together. Many listings on peer-to-peer accommodation networks have not been developed for tourists; they have been developed for families. As such, they are uniquely suited to cater to this market segment

Political activism

This chapter explores the engagement of peer-to-peer accommodation networks in activities not aligning directly with their corporate mission, including corporate social responsibility and activism. While corporate social responsibility aligns with societal values, activism often seeks to change them, thus potentially alienating customers. Yet Airbnb – the internationally leading commercial peer-to-peer accommodation network – is very proactively engaged in political activism, including fighting for marriage equality and against the tightening of US immigration law