Strategies To Limit The Impact On Tourism Numbers In The Aftermath Of Earthquakes

In the past few decades, the frequency of crises has increased. Crises can bring great destruction, death and injuries. For a tourism destination it can cause even more impact as it damages the destination image and heightens risk perception, which can result in a decrease of visitor numbers. To attempt to limit the impact of a crisis on the tourism industry, crisis management is of importance. This paper aims at contributing to this literature by attempting to fill the gap on tourism management strategies in the context of a natural disaster. The following research question is of central focus for this study: “In what way are management strategies, aimed at limiting the decreasing tourism numbers, reported on to the wider public during the post crisis phase of an earthquake?”. To answer this question, newspaper articles, reports and conferences for three destinations have been analysed through a content analysis. The destinations are in Nepal, Indonesia and Japan and are thus all situated in Asia. The results of this research show that multiple strategies have been used: promotion has been employed in multiple ways, events hosted, neighbouring countries targeted, information provision emphasized and discounts, quality improvement and rehabilitation were focused on. The three destination all had their own approach, pace and choice of management strategies, however overall there are also quite some similarities to be found in the different contexts. "