Introduction

This chapter discusses the difference between crises and disasters, the interrelationship between the two and how the ‘ripple effect’ can turn a crisis into a disaster or vice versa. It then outlines the type of crises and disasters that exist and can impact upon the tourism industry. Incidents can range from small-scale organisational issues ranging from staff illness, staff challenges and breakdowns, malevolence, organisational misdeeds to external factors such as natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, fires), global environmental change and terrorist incidents. An anatomy of a crisis or disaster is presented and the lifecycle of such incidents are identified and discussed.

Understanding when an ‘issue’ becomes a crisis or disaster is discussed, before the chapter outlines a classification of crises which consider threat level, time pressure and the intensity of specific incidents. The chapter also outlines the difficulty in predicting or responding to crises and disasters as each one has different characteristics and are often seen as impossible to control. Discussion is undertaken concerning chaos and complexity theory and various ways of viewing crisis and disaster management. However, this chapter concludes by suggesting that a strategic and integrated approach to crisis and disaster management can help limit the potential impact of shocks, crises and disasters and is particularly relevant for the tourism industry, despite the complexity of such incidents.

Nature and Impacts of Tourism Crises and Disasters

A number of authors have attempted to understand crises and disasters by (1) defining them (discussed in Chapter 1), (2) explaining the nature of crises and disaster and their lifecycle or anatomy to help improve our understanding of such phenomena, and (3) by stressing the complexity and chaotic nature of incidents which pose challenges in managing or preventing crises or disasters.