Analysing the impact of the 2011 natural disasters on the Central Queensland tourism industry.

Abstract

Abstract:The past decade has been particularly difficult for the tourism industry worldwide, and in Asia/Australasia in particular, as crises have followed in rapid succession, starting with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Severe flooding in Central Queensland in early 2011, was followed soon after by Cyclone Yasi, again revealing the vulnerability of communities to the forces of nature. The tourism industry, due to the discretionary nature of the consumption activity, is particularly vulnerable to crises and the fragmented nature of the industry can make it difficult to prepare for and quickly respond to crises. This paper investigates the impacts of the 2011 flooding and Cyclone Yasi on Central Queensland tourism operators and the degree of implementation and effectiveness of the Tourism Queensland Crisis Management Plan Template to prepare regional tourism organisations and businesses for crises such as these. This research has found that whilst only a small number of Central Queensland tourism operators were directly affected by Cyclone Yasi and the flooding, the impacts and outcomes appear very similar for both those directly and indirectly affected: (i) loss of business revenue, downsizing the operation due to the decrease in the number of tourists; (ii) medium term impacts due to ongoing negative media coverage; and (iii)lack of compensation from insurance companies and the Queensland Government. All these have led to a very slow recovery for the tourism industry within Central Queensland.

Destinos Turísticos e Resiliência a Crises e Catástrofes

“…Assim, ainda que a aposta no TER, ao nível local e regional, possa gerar uma nova dinâmica social e económica para as populações rurais, as catástrofes apresentam-se como eventos que podem comprometer toda essa estratégia. Devido à natureza discricionária da atividade de consumo turístico, hoje crescentemente prosumer (Niezgoda, 2013;Ritzer, Dean, & Jurgenson, 2012;Santos, 2001) e holístico (Candela & Figini, 2012;Rocha, Seabra, Silva, & Abrantes, 2016), o turismo é particularmente vulnerável a crises, dado que o turista, quando se apercebe de um elemento disruptivo num determinado destino, pode simplesmente optar por escolher outro (Richardson et al, 2015). Para além disto, a natureza fragmentada da atividade, que se deve à existência de múltiplos elementos que, muitas vezes, competem entre si dentro do próprio sistema turístico, torna difícil a preparação e rapidez de resposta (Beirman, 2015).…”

“…Ainda que os territórios rurais e de baixas densidades tenham encontrado no turismo uma alternativa de rentabilização dos seus recursos, a ocorrência de catástrofes no destino turístico, como é o caso dos grandes incêndios, pode comprometer toda essa estratégia. O turismo, pela sua natureza sistémica (Moreira, 2013), apresenta a capacidade de se adaptar e reajustar às alterações do meio, mas, por outro lado, pela sua natureza discricionária, é extremamente vulnerável a pressões e perturbações internas e externas (Richardson, March, Lewis, & Radel, 2015). Deste modo, as catástrofes apresentam-se como eventos disruptivos para o sistema turístico, o que, por vezes, pode resultar num declínio irreversível, devido à alteração da imagem do destino.…”

Impact of the Great Earthquake-2015 on Hospitality Industry of Nepal

“…Natural disasters are catastrophic events that are likely to outstrip the capacity of societies to manage their impacts (Richardson, March, Lewis & Radel, 2012). While such events are usually limited in their duration, they are nevertheless events on a scale sufficiently significant to cause governments to substantially and often urgently modify their funding and political priorities.…”