Helping when disaster hits

Large-scale natural disasters and man-made crises, such as terrorist attacks, can lead to substantial drops in tourism demand in the affected destination, thus threatening the local tourism industry. Demand can fall further if the disaster has reduced the supply of accommodation. This chapter explores the potential of peer-to-peer networks assisting destinations in the immediate emergency, and in the recovery stage. Airbnb has, on a number of occasions, made accommodation available at no cost when people were in need as the consequence of an unexpected event. But even among residents who are not currently members of a network, willingness to help is substantial, pointing to the potential of a new – much more decentralized – approach to disaster recovery at tourism destinations