In an era of considerable disaster and uncertainty, many destinations have been made alarmingly aware of the fickle nature of tourism. While peak industry bodies, academics and professionals advocate the introduction of risk/crisis management strategies as a means to better insulate against adversity – the operational capacity and capability of any destination is only truly determined in conditions of duress. Beyond the plethora of complicated theory and rhetoric, most stakeholders understand tangible lessons and solutions. The experience of recently crisis afflicted destinations such as Bali and Phuket provide an opportunity to examine destination vulnerability, response strategies and the common objective of destination recovery. Although still far from achieving the ideal of sustainable tourism, the strategies employed by both of these locations demonstrate that improved destination resistance and resilience may be achieved through greater institutional reform.

Note

As a working paper these case studies are presented as a descriptive examination of real life tourism crisis and associated management strategies. The information provided is primarily based on extensive longitudinal fieldwork/observation, anecdotal evidence, personal communication and various sources of secondary data.