Crisis Management and Impact on Global Hospitality and Tourism Industry

This report explores the impact of crisis management on the global hospitality and tourism industry, specifically focusing on the Australia bushfire crisis. It discusses communication tools and strategies used during the crisis, different approaches of crisis management, the framework of disaster management, and proactive and reactive management strategies. The report also examines the consequences of effective and ineffective crisis management.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT
AND IMPACT ON GLOBAL
HOSPITALITY AND
TOURISM INDUSTRY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Communication tool and strategies used at time of managing the crises...............................3
Approaches of crisis management used at time of Australia bushfire...................................5
Framework of disaster management.......................................................................................7
Proactive and reactive management strategies for management for crisis.............................8
Consequences of effective and ineffective management of crisis........................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Crisis management is a process by which the company or business try to manage case of
contingent emergency which may occur any time. The crisis is an intense situation of difficulty
which can occur anytime and anyplace which may change working of company to a great extent.
Thus, it is very crucial for business to have measures and strategies ready for all the possible risk
which may occur in future (Bundy and et.al., 2017). The present report is based on bushfire
which took place at Australia in June 2019.
The fire disaster took place in city of Australia that is Victoria City which is a city at the
southeast of Australia. At this place the fire first broke out and it further got carried away with
air to around 1.2 million hectares of land. This disaster took place starting from 2 January till
around 11 January and damaged nearby places as well. The whole fire was concentrated in area
of Victoria and New South Wales and places near southeast coast of Australia. Even the fire is
still continued for year 2020 as well and has affected Queensland and has almost killed at least
28 people and approximately more than 1 billion of animals. Also, Australia has a devastating
bushfire crisis from many times and it has affected to many different cities and places in
Australia. In Queensland around 20 homes have lost and approximately 180000 houses have
burned which created a heavy loss for that area. In areas of Victoria at time of fire the winds
were around100 km/h and fanned more than 60 blazes during time of unprecedented heatwave.
The present report will outline communication strategies and tools which were used at
time of managing this bushfire. Further different approaches used to relate to crisis management
will be outlined. Also, a framework which can be used to manage disaster will be demonstrated.
After that proactive and reactive management strategies which will be adopted to manage crisis
will be discussed. In the end all possible consequences will be discussed relating to management
of bushfire.
Communication tool and strategies used at time of managing the crises
Communication is the most essential and effective tool through which one information
can be passed on to another person (Eriksson, 2017). In the field of crisis management, it is very
necessary for people to effectively communicate with one another so that information can passed
be passed on in clear and effective manner. The crisis is a situation of emergency and this can be
anything wither a natural disaster or a man- made crisis such as fire, floods, droughts, terrorist
attacks, industrial attacks, war and many other different types of crisis.

Thus, in dealing with all these crises the most effective thing is communication.
Communication and crisis management has a great link between both as at time of crisis it can be
effectively managed with help of communication only (Giegerich, 2017). It is so because with
aid of communication details of crisis will be passed on to others. Thus, all requirements of
managing crisis in effective manner is communicated to higher authorities and measures are
being supplied to its betterment. The communication strategies which were used at time of
managing bushfire held in Australia in June 2019 are as follows-
Use of social media is the most crucial and advance communicating tool in this highly
technologically advanced environment. This is majorly being used because of reason that social
media is being actively used by almost every person. Thus, this will be helpful by people in
communicating for helping to uplift the destination from crisis. Here the information of Australia
bushfire will also spread like a fire and most of the people will get the knowledge of crisis and
will help in overcoming the crisis. With help of this communication tool the government of
Australia can also ask for help from people of Australia by sharing information and photos
relating to the damage took place because of fire.
The other important strategy of communication at time of bushfire in Australia is case
escalation. This is a method of communication wherein some people sit together and discuss all
the detail and data relating to fire in Australia. After this discussion some of the measures are
discussed by brainstorming on the topic. This communication strategy will bring in many
different ideas as many people provide their own ideas. And all the individual is different in their
thinking and mind level. Hence, there will be more option of recovery from the crisis of bushfire
Australia. Under this method some experts will be hired to discuss and brainstorm on different
ways of overcoming the fire within Australia.
Another important strategy of communication is preparing in advance some action plan
and communicate it with the local people and residents of Australia. This is a good strategy
because of the fact that this will help people in knowing in advance that if any crisis occurs
within country then residents of country knows in advance that what they have to do
(Christensen, Lægreid and Rykkja, 2016). Thus, this communication will help the residents in
gaining the knowledge of all possible steps which can be taken in order to overcome with the
crisis of bushfire in Australia.

One more important strategy for communicating the crisis of Australia bushfire is system
of automated notification (Coombs and Laufer, 2018). This is a system of communication in
which the sender of message records the voice message and then broadcast this message through
various devices like radio, text messages or through television. This is a good source of
communication as people will be able to listen to this message and they will react in same
manner as intended in the company.
In the end it can be said that without communication the crisis cannot be managed in
effective and efficient manner. The underlying reason behind this fact is that without
communication the work cannot be accomplished. Hence, it is very necessary for the Australian
government to have effective policies for management of crisis.
Approaches of crisis management used at time of Australia bushfire
Crisis management is a very important task to be done because this help in overcoming
the problem and issue relating to the crisis. Hence, it is very important at time of Australia
bushfire also for dealing the crisis management as these different approaches of crisis
management assist the Australian government in dealing with this national crisis. Therefore, the
different approaches were used at time of dealing with this issue of bushfire. This is majorly
pertaining to the fact that these different approaches helped the people and government of
Australia in managing the crisis in an effective and efficient manner. The approach of crisis
management which was used for managing the bushfire in Australia was Faulkner model of
crisis management. The model is applied to case of bushfires in Australia are as follows-
Pre-event- This is the first stage of approach wherein the crisis has not yet occurred and
can happen any time in future. Here it is duty of government of country and people to identify
areas which are more prone to getting affected by fire taking place. This assisted Australia in
deciding in advance that which area will be more affected from crisis taking place (McCarthy
and Taylor, 2018).
Mobilization- This is second phase of approach of crisis management wherein some steps
are taken in order to inform people and residents of Australia that some mis happening or some
crisis is going to hit Australia. This is done by warning system wherein warning is given to
people of Australia that any time any disaster can happen and it is duty of people to be united
and face crisis in positive manner.

Action- This is a stage where some actions are taken in order to deal with crisis as at this
stage crisis or disaster has actually occurred (Gonzalez-Mathiesen and et.al., 2019). Now here
government and other people who are in good condition tries to help the people who are
suffering from effects of crisis. In case of bushfire in Australia the action taken in taking care of
disaster is implementing rescue plan, providing accommodation to people who lost their house
because of fire, providing of all medical facilities to people free of cost so that every person can
afford it.
Recovery- This is the stage where the damage is being recovered by taking care of the
damages being done. Here a damage audit is taken in order to note that how much damage has
taken place and how much it needs to be recovered so that people can start their normal course of
life. Also, a monitoring system has been installed by government of Australia in order to manage
and check that whether all the thought strategies have been implemented in the same manner or
not.
Reconstruction and reassessment- This is another stage wherein all strategies are
reassessed that whether they are being followed in same manner or not. If not than what are
reason behind it and what measures can be taken in order to develop it. At this stage in case of
bushfire in Australia the government calls for repairing of all infrastructure which was damaged,
along with taking care of environment which is being damaged because of fire. Even many
people have gone in shock and fear because of this high fire in Australia so for their revival and
gaining back consciousness some counselling sessions have been arranged for free for those
people who are suffering.
Review- This is last stage of Faulkner approach of crisis management wherein before this
stage all the strategies and policies have been implemented over people and residents of
Australia. Now at this stage the after implementation of all strategies review is done that whether
these strategies are being implemented in proper manner or not (Hofeditz and et.al., 2019). If not
than it is very necessary for government of Australia to review and ensure its proper
implementation.
In the end it can be said that use of this approach will ensure that all the strategies and
approaches for recovering from damages and loss caused because of heavy bushfire in Australia
is very helpful. Application of this approach is very helpful for Australia in dealing with crisis in
effective and positive manner as it resulted in reviving of place.

Framework of disaster management
Disaster management is defined as proper management of various resources and things
which are necessary for dealing with a situation of emergency or any crisis. this management of
crisis or disaster is very necessary as this will help the people in overcoming from the loss being
incurred from the disaster (Ruane, 2018). Hence it is very important for countries to have an
effective framework for managing disaster in such a way that country and its residents are able to
revive from all losses incurred due to crisis or disaster. Thus, in case of Australia bushfire held in
2019 a framework for disaster management was adopted by the government of country which is
as follows-
Mitigation- This is the first stage of framework of disaster management wherein people
try to mitigate the crisis or disaster to occur (Lejeune, Beausaert and Raemdonck, 2018). Here
people try to prevent the situation of emergency form occurring or takes measures which can
assist in proper management of crisis. Here mitigation is done because crisis has not yet occurred
or may be occurring at some future time. Hence, here either people can go for mitigating plan
which ensures that the disaster or crisis will not occur or will go for developing and formulating
of practices and strategies which may help people of affected area in limiting the result of
disaster. In case of Australian bushfire also there were many mitigating plans for managing the
crisis. For this Australian government uses public awareness program and different hazard
management and other techniques.
Preparedness- This is the second phase in which people are ready to face the disaster or
crisis. Ready means to be mentally prepared and use of some strategies in advance which can
help people in lowering the effects of disaster. In case of bushfire in Australia early warning
system, some training and different exercises to manage the fire were provided to people of
Australia in advance.
Response- This is a phase where the crisis has occurred in actual and now people of
country and government are taking measures in overcoming the outcomes of crisis. Here the
actions are taken in order to save the lives of people wo have suffered from crisis (March and
Dovers, 2017). In this stage comes rescuing people, making evacuating plan, making emergency
planning, providing of hospital facilities and many other plans comes at this place. In case of
bushfire in Australia, for recovering from fire, infrastructure was improved, also, some
rehabilitation services were provided to affected people and restoring of all damages was made.

Recovery- This is a stage wherein the loss because of crisis has been made and now it is
time to recover from the losses incurred (Mair, Ritchie and Walters, 2016). In this stage actions
are taken to revive the country back to its original position. Here in case of bushfires in Australia
the fire occurred and after that the recovery of country took place by their residents and
government. Here, first recovery measure of taking financial assistance with the other countries,
taking care of people and providing them with latest medical facilities with no or low charges
and many others. also, some communication plans were made in order to communicate with
people who were majorly damaged.
Figure: phases of disaster management.
(Source: ICTs 4 disaster management, 2020)
Proactive and reactive management strategies for management for crisis
For dealing with crisis there are two different types of strategies that is proactive and
reactive. Proactive is the one which are applied before crisis actually occurs that is in prevention
of crisis. reactive strategies are the one which are applied as a reaction of crisis occurring in
actual.

Proactive strategy
Identifying crisis communication team- This is an approach wherein the government of
Australia tries to find an effective team which can handle the issue of fire in country
(Carayannopoulos, 2017). This team will include senior people and executives so that the crisis
can be managed in a successful manner and country can revive from this situation of crisis. This
team will effectively manage the crisis and will brainstorm different ways in order to uplift the
country from the loss made by the fire.
Hire some spokespersons- This is another approach in which the team recruits some
spokesperson in order to manage the crisis in effective and efficient manner. These
spokespersons are the people who will help the people suffering from the effects of crisis. These
spokespersons are hired as these are trained in every aspect and have proper strengths to handle
tough situation. These are the people who have right skill and are positioned at right place and
also are trained in the correct manner. The skills involved by these people are effective
communication, proper knowledge, logical reasoning, critical thinking and many other skills.
Establishing monitoring system- This is a strategy wherein the people establish some
standards for managing the work. This system will help the people in monitoring the fact that
whether the thought strategies are being implemented in the same manner or not. This system
will help Australian government in analysing the fact that whether the strategies being
implemented are going on in proper manner or not and if not, then corrective measures need to
be taken.
Diagnosis of impending trouble- This is another proactive strategy wherein the people of
Australia tries to diagnose other factors or trouble which may occur in future and try to prevent
it. This is a good approach as here the people try to predict the future and contingent situation
which may occur and may not. Hence, this will assist the people in managing the crisis in proper
way as they have already planned the working in advance (Eckerberg and Buizer, 2017).
Reactive strategy
Risk management approach- This is yet another strategy which can be used for effective
management of Australia bushfire as this help in properly managing the risk and issues which are
involved in the area of damage. This is majorly pertaining to the fact that this will assist the
people of Australia in effectively managing the risk and this will help the people in managing the
issues relating to the risk of people. Also, there was a risk that the flights from and to Australia

will be cancelled (Dwyer and Hardy, 2016). Also, this will impact over tourism in Australia as
now people will not travel to Australia till the time it is not completely recovered from the
effects of bushfires.
Online collaboration- Another important reactive strategy at time of Australia bushfire is
the online collaboration with other countries so that they can aid Australia in reviving from
crisis. In this collaboration two or more countries comes together in order to help Australia in all
the terms whether be it financial, requirement of human capital and many others facilities.
Consequences of effective and ineffective management of crisis
The consequences of all these proactive and reactive strategies is both positive and
negative as the country has to suffer to a great extent. The major reason underlying this fact is
that proactive strategies will have positive impact over the country and reactive strategy will
have negative impact over country. This is majorly pertaining to the fact that proactive are the
strategies which are made prior to crisis and these strategies help people in gaining knowledge of
dealing with crisis if they occur in actual.
On the other hand, reactive strategies are the one which are prepared in order to deal with
the crisis as the crisis has actually occurred. Now the people and government of country tries to
recover and revive country from the losses faced because of crisis. In case of crisis of bushfire in
Australia the major proactive strategies were like identifying effective communication team,
providing people training of becoming spokesperson and establishing a monitoring system. All
these strategies helped the people of Australia in knowing that what all strategies and steps they
can take if crisis takes in actual.
All these proactive strategies will assist people of Australia in managing themselves and
others if there is any case of emergency or contingency. On the other hand, the reactive strategies
are the one which are prepared in order to revive and recover from the crisis happened which is
bushfire in case of crisis of Australia (Gani and Singh, 2019). This is a strategy which is
prepared after reaction of crisis and now as a reaction to crisis these strategies are being
implemented for betterment of country. This includes major fact that whole tourism is negatively
impacted because of this bushfire as now tourist will not come till the time recovery is going on.
This will decrease income of country which is a major portion from tourism and hospitality
industry. Another negative impact of this on Australia is that this will decrease goodwill of
country and will decrease business transaction with the country as well. This is so because now

as country is reviving it means that they not have much financial assistance and will ned to grow
more.
CONCLUSION
In the end it is concluded that management of crisis is very crucial for a country as a
crisis create a high damage to the country and its working. Hence, it is very crucial for countries
to effectively manage all the issues relating to crisis so that it does not much affect working and
profitability of country as a whole. The present report is based on crisis faced by Australia that is
bushfire in Australia held in 2019 June. Whole report is based on the fact that how crisis took
place then what communication tools were used in order to communicate about crisis like case
escalation, social media communication and many other sources.
Further it was outlined that Faulkner approach of crisis management is being used by
Australian government in order to manage bushfire crisis. This included different stages like pre-
event, mobilization, action, recovery, reconstruction and reassessment and review. Further the
different strategies of managing crisis that is proactive and reactive strategies which needs to be
implemented in order to manage the bushfire in Australia. In the end the consequences of all the
strategies being implemented in order to overcome effects and damages of bushfire in Australia
was discussed.
Recommendation- in the end it is recommended to people of Australia that they need to
be more alert and readier to face any sort of mishap which can take place at any time. Also,
another recommendation is that all the steps which resident and government of Australia has
taken in order to overcome effects of crisis must be published on official site of country. This is
done in order to help other countries as well to get prepared if they face any such crisis.

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Online
ICTs 4 disaster management. 2020. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-
D/Emergency-Telecommunications/Pages/ICTs-4-DM.aspx>