Tourism security and destination crisis management

As a voluntary activity, tourism is particularly sensitive to variations in external conditions (political, social, climatic, etc.) that may compromise the travel experience (Santana, 2003: 300). Even though safety and security have always been central concepts to tourism (and to the wider world), in the aftermath of the September, 11 2001 tragic event, these concepts (and their relationship with tourism) have gained substantial global interest. Peace, safety and security are the prodromic conditions which a region or a country have to guarantee for the normal development of its tourist activities: without them, destinations can not successfully compete, even if they present in their marketing campaigns the most delightful, amazing, unique attractions (Cavlek, 2002; Masfeld & Pizam, 2006, Hall et al, 2003). This paper reviews the literature on crisis management in tourism, focusing on the crisis management processes at a “macro” level (the destination). How tourist destinations react to crisis? Which measures are commonly taken and what impact do they have? How can destinations prepare for such crisis situations? What are the mistakes that should not be committed to avoid compromising the image of the destination and its own reputation? The paper tries to answer such questions, with specific reference to security/safety crisis and the way it affects the tourism industry, the destination competitiveness, its reputation and the tourist destination choice process. In particular the paper is aimed to: - focus on the destination management of prolonged crisis, caused by non sporadic events, related to factors affecting safety and security perception; - assess, on the basis of the international literature and case-histories, factors impacting on the “magnitude” of the crisis and the best recovery practice empirically adopted by affected destinations (as they emerge from international case studies), distinguishing them as a function of the temporal nature of the trigger event (“one shot” versus “non sporadic” events); - emphasize the role that security information and its communication have in the mitigation of the damages in the short (the loss of clientele) and long term (the destination reputation); - outlining the effects of a poor communication on the public perception of the crisis, in the light of an empirical case: the city of Naples (Italy) during the so called “garbage emergency”