Krisplanering i utpräglade besöksnäringskommuner innan och under coronapandemin Covid-19

Crisis management has come into the public’s attention since the outbreak of thecorona virus Covid-19 in December 2019. The aim of this study is to describethe pre-existing conditions in three Swedish tourism-dependent municipalities with regards to their crisis preparedness. Furthermore, this thesis will explore what measures the municipalities undertake during the corona pandemic to helpthe tourism industry cope with the negative consequences of the crisis situation. This thesis has explored the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to Arjeplog, Malung-Sälen and Älvdalens crisis preparedness before the outbreakof the corona pandemic. With the use of municipal planning documents and qualitative interviews with key municipal officials the pre-existing conditions are presented to create a backdrop to how the pandemic and its effects on the tourism industry unfolded in the municipalities. The planning documents have been analyzed through the use of documentary content analysis. The results show that the municipalities crisis preparedness is influenced by prior experience in crisis management and that the municipalities crisis management organizations are very much alike. The tourism industry in the municipalities is heavily affected by the corona pandemic with rising unemployment rates and local tourism businesses struggling to keep from bankruptcy. All three municipalities have implemented similar specific crisis management strategiesto ease the negative consequences of the corona pandemic on the tourismindustry