Natural Disasters vs Hotel Industry Resilience: An Exploratory Study among Hotel Managers from Europe

Abstract

Hotels, like any other businesses in a given location, can be threatened by natural disasters, usually with significant and long-term consequences. The hotel industry is particularly vulnerable and exposed to the risk of property being physically damaged or completely destroyed. Apart from the physical damage, there is also an accompanying economic risk of the tourism sector suffering as tourists avoid areas affected by a disaster event. Therefore, hotels in the areas prone to natural disasters must ensure they are resilient enough to carry on through the turbulent period until regular business levels return. This study is based on survey responses of 63 hotel managers from the 12 European countries most frequently affected by natural disasters. The study relies on multi-capital predictor based approach and examines hotel resilience to natural disasters. It has been found that managers’ previous experience of a natural disaster, duration of managerial experience, and organizational category and size have a positive effect on hotel resilience. Moreover, hotels must anticipate such situations and continuously drill how to respond efficiently and adapt quickly in order to ensure business sustainability. Practical implications, study limitations and future research recommendations are also discussed.

Hotels in contexts of uncertainty: Measuring organisational resilience

“…On the other hand, literature encourages employee participation in the decision-making process of plans and strategies in an uncertain context (e.g., Al-Ayed, 2019 ; Bouaziz & Hachicha, 2018 ; Brown et al, 2019 ; Lengnick-Hall, Beck, & Lengnick-Hall, 2011 ). As an example of the positive effect of employee involvement, Ivkov et al (2019) find that managers' previous experience of disasters and managerial experience duration have a positive effect on hotel resilience. Another key determinant of organisational resilience widely identified in the literature is cooperation with stakeholders (e.g., Brown et al, 2019 ; Orchiston et al, 2016 ).…”

“…In addition, the global expansion of tourism firms increases the international dimension of its operations (e.g., Corfu & Nistoreanu, 2006 ). In such a context, tourism organisations become vulnerable and must respond to worldwide changes ( Bhati & Pearce, 2016 ; Brown et al, 2017 ; Cahyanto & Pennington-Gray, 2017 ; Ivkov et al, 2019 ; Paraskevas & Altinay, 2013 ; Schroeder, Pennington-Gray, Kaplanidou, & Zhan, 2013 ). Indeed, based on literature review, this paper identifies nine types of changes that the tourism industry faces.…”

“…Micro-level studies include Biggs, Hall, and Stoeckl (2012) , which analyses the resilience of formal and informal tourism enterprises to disasters; Chowdhury et al (2019) , which explore the links between social capital, adaptive resilience and business performance of tourism organisations (e.g., accommodation, transport); and Kutzner (2019) , which examines the socio-ecological resilience of tour operators, among others. In terms of the study issue, topics such as resilience to disasters (e.g., Ivkov et al, 2019 ), climate change (e.g., Dogru, Marchio, Bulut, & Suess, 2019 ) or economic crisis (e.g., Cellini & Cuccia, 2015 ) have been analysed. With regard to the research methodology, on the one hand, there are review and reflection papers that collect the main analysis perspectives or propose their own premises (e.g., Jiang, Ritchie, & Verreynne, 2019 ).…”

Program Kesiapsiagaan Tsunami Usaha Hotel di Kawasan Pariwisata Anyer, Provinsi Banten

“…Selain itu, jalur evakuasi serta standar dan prosedur bencana wajib diimplementasikan bagi usaha hotel di kawasan pariwisata Anyer yang bertujuan supaya dapat mengurangi risiko tsunami. Pentingnya mengikuti arahan pemerintah setempat yang akan membuat ketahanan pada usaha hotel, selain itu prosedur bencana internal yang dibuat oleh usaha hotel mampu meningkatkan keselamatan wisatawan dan para karyawan hotel (Ivkov et al, 2019).…”

Estudio de pérdidas y estrategias de reactivación para el sector turístico por crisis sanitaria COVID-19 en el destino Manta (Ecuador).

“…En la industria del turismo uno de los subsectores de actividad más afectados por las situaciones de crisis post-desastre es, sin duda, el de los alojamientos hoteleros, presentando problemas de vulnerabilidad multifacéticos (Brown, Rovins, Feldmann-Jensen, Orchiston & Johnston, 2017). En muchos estudios de caso analizados se ha puesto, de hecho, especial interés en entender los procesos de recuperación de los destinos turísticos desde la mirada de la oferta y, sobre todo, desde la perspectiva de la experiencia de los propietarios y gerentes de los negocios relacionados con el turismo, como particularmente en el caso de los hoteles (Ivkov, 2019;Karatani, 2008). Estos estudios revelan precisamente cinco problemáticas relevantes para los establecimientos turísticos hoteleros (Pappas, 2018) en la gestión de la crisis turística: el desarrollo de la competitividad y el emprendimiento, los aspectos de gestión operativa, las estrategias de marketing y promoción, la productividad y la eficiencia empresarial y las cuestiones de financiación.…”