The impact of a terrorist attack on hotel operators crisismanagement : Before, during and after an attack

Terrorist attacks have in recent years been showing a growing focus in causing damage on the tourism industry and the threat directed on hotels is now greater than ever. Crisis management strategies have become an important key in the hotel industry, the work to prepare and prevent for crises has therefore been a basic enforcement.The study was brought forward to analyze the terrorist attack that occurred on Drottninggatan in Stockholm, Sweden on the 7th of April 2017 and how it has affected hotel operators established nearby the incident and their work with crisis management. The aim has been studied through designed and formed research questions, which concerns the hotels crisis management before, under and after the attack. The empirical material is based on qualitative interviews with six hotel managers or security managers, from various hotel operators located nearby Drottninggatan. The study is deriving from a critical realism approach that has created guidelines for the selection of a qualitative method.The theoretical framework highlights the connection between terrorism and tourism, crisis management, safety, the hotels responsibility to the visitors, communication and models which can be applied in the tourism and hotel industry. The result of the study is then represented in mechanisms to analyze and identify the connections of links to the theoretical framework. Based on the result, it’s possible to draw the conclusion that the majority of the hotels in this study, had prepared established crisis management strategies before the terrorist attack. All the prepared and established strategies were not implemented at the time of the attack though. The result of this study reveals that most of the hotel operators have reviewed and developed their crisis management strategies after the terrorist attack