A holistic assessment of crisis management in tourism from a demand-supply perspective - lessons learnt from COVID-19

Abstract

Along with the shifting of COVID-19 from pandemic to endemic, tourism sectors have learnt to promptly respond to the crisis while minimizing the negative impacts to both visitors and locals. Considering that there is no single research on tourism crisis management combining both demand-supply perspective, especially covering both local’s and visitor’s opinions, this study provides a holistic assessment of three key stages of crisis management in tourism (i.e., pre-crisis, during-crisis and post-crisis) that covering a wide range of sectors including culture, retail and hotel. Using the case of Macao, a total of 66 interviews were conducted during and after the COVID-19 including 31 service providers and 35 service demanders. It is found both tourism service providers and customers (including locals) have endured a growing process of changing perceptions and experiences with the pandemic. This study contributes to the research field by outlining a holistic framework for tourism crisis management. It also provides the practical insights for the service providers in adjusting the coping strategies of crisis in a continuous manner while considering customers’ changing consumption patterns.