How do Turkey-Based Travel Agencies Manage the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis?

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 7 Sayı: 2, 339 - 354, 22.12.2020

Davut Uysal , İlker Kılıç

Öz

This research used an adapted crisis management framework from the relevant literature and applied it to the context of Turkey-based travel agencies during a devastating health crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic. The adapted framework consists of six stages and it has been applied in many fields so far but it has not been tested in any health crisis with global effects in the tourism industry yet. Therefore, this study focused on some Turkey-based travel agencies to evaluate their crisis management performances in a health crisis. An interview schedule was developed based on the adapted framework and then used in the qualitative data collection. Through in-depth interviews with the senior managers of 16 travel agencies., the crisis management performances of the examined travel agencies were examined in detail. It was found with this study that the examined travel agencies failed to manage the Covid-19 crisis appropriately. With this study, various recommendations have been offered about effective management of such tourism crisis in the future.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Covid-19, Crisis Management, Tourism, Travel Agency

Kaynakça

• Anderson, B. A. (2006). Crisis management in the Australian tourism industry: Preparedness, personnel and postscript. Tourism Management, 27, 1290-1297.
• AFRICAREVEWAL. (2020, October 10). Available at: https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/special-edition-covid-19/au-study-covid-19-could-cost-africa-500-billion-damage-tourism-and.
• Armstrong, E.K. (2008). Destination recovery after natural disasters - A case study of the recovery of the ACT tourism industry after the 2003 bushfires. PhD thesis, Tourism Discipline. The University of Canberra. Canberra.
• ASSOTURISMO (2020, October 12). Assoturismo-CST, nel 2020 si perderanno oltre 260 milioni di presenze turistiche (-60%). Ripresa solo nel 2021, forse Interventi inconsistenti per le imprese turistiche. Cancellato più di mezzo secolo di turismo. Available at: http://www.assoturismo.it/assoturismo-cst-nel-2020-si-perderanno-oltre-260-milioni-di-presenze-turistiche-60-ripresa-solo-nel-2021-forse.html.
• Berg, B.L. (2004). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
• Cavlek, N. (2002) Tour operators and destination safety. Annals of Tourism Research, 29 (2), 478-496.
• Cavlek N. (2006). Tour Operators and Destination Safety. In Tourism, Security. & Safety, Yoel Mansfeid & Abraham Pizam, London: Elsevier.
• Cioccio, L. & Michael, E.J. (2007). Hazard or disaster: Tourism management for the inevitable in Northeast Victoria. Tourism Management, 28 (1): 1-11.
• Comcec, R. (2017). Crisis Management in Tourism Sector: Recovery from Crisis in the OIC Member Countries.
• EL PAIS (2020, October, 18). Exceltur estimates a loss of more than 30% of the tourism business in 2020 due to the coronavirus. Available at: https://elpais.com/economia/2020-04-01/exceltur-calcula-una-perdida-de-mas-del-30-del-negocio-turistico-a-causa-del-coronavirus.html.
• Evans, N. & Elphick, S. (2005). Models of crisis management: An evaluation of their value for strategic planning in the international travel industry. International Journal of Tourism Research, 7, 135- 150.
• Faulkner, B. (2001). Towards a framework for tourism disaster management. Tourism Management 22(2): 135-147.
• Faulkner, B. & S. Vikulov (2001). Katherine, washed out one day, back on track the next: a post-mortem of a tourism disaster. Tourism Management 22(4): 331-344.
• Heath, R. (1998). Crisis Management for Managers and Executives. Financial Times, Pitman Publishing, London.
• Henderson, J. C. (2003). Communicating in a crisis: flight SQ 006. Tourism Management 24(3): 279- 287.
• Henderson, J.C. (2007). Tourism Crises: Causes, Consequences and Management. Butterworth Heinemann.
• Jennings, G. (2010). Tourism Research, Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons: Australia.
• Lachtar, D., & Garbolino, E. (2012). Performance Assessment of Crisis Management Plans with the Contribution of multi-agent Systems. AIDIC. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 26, 447-270.
• Laws, E., & Prideaux, B. (2005). Crisis management: A suggested typology. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 19 (2/3), 1-8.
• Mason, J. (2002). Qualitative Researching, SAGE Publications, London.
• McKercher, B., & E.L.L. Hui. (2004) Terrorism, economic uncertainty and outbound travel from Hong Kong. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 15(2/3),99-116.
• Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). California: Sage Publications.
• Minichiello V, Aroni R. & Hays T. (2008). In-depth Interviewing: Principles, Techniques, Analysis. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia
• Murphy, P. E., & Bayley, R. (1989) Tourism and disaster planning. The Geographical Review, 79 (1), 36-46.
• PATA: Pacific Area Travel Association (2011) Bounce Back – Tourism Risk, Crisis and Recovery Management Guide. Bangkok: PATA
• Prideaux, B. (2003) The need to use disaster planning frameworks to respond to major tourism disasters: analysis of Australia’s response to tourism disasters in 2001. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 15 (4). 281- 298.
• Prideaux, B., Laws, E., & Faulkner, B. (2003). Events in Indonesia: exploring the limits to formal tourism trends forecasting methods in complex crisis situations. Tourism management, 24(4), 475-487.
• Pauchant, T. C. & R. Douville (1993). Recent research in crisis management: A study of 24 authors’ publications from 1986 to 1991.Organization and Environment, 7 43–66.
• Ritchie, B. W. (2004). Chaos, crises and disasters: a strategic approach to crisis management in the tourism industry. Tourism Management 25(6): 669-683.
• Ritchie, B. W. (2009). Crisis and Disaster Management for Tourism by Cooper, C. Hall,H and Dallen J. Clevedon,T , Channel View Publications, UK.
• Rossi, C. (2012). Tourism Security and Destination Crisis Management. Competition and Innovation in Tourism: New Challenges in an Uncertain World, A. Morvillo, ed., Enzo Albano Editore.
• Santana, G. (2003). Crisis management and tourism: Beyond the rhetoric. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 15 (4), 299-321.
• Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2003). Research Methods for Business Students, Third Edition, Pearson Education Limited: Essex.
• Sarantakos, S. (2005). Social Research. (3rd ed.). Melbourne: Macmillan Education.
• Scott, N., & Laws, E. (2005). Tourism crises and disasters: Enhancing understanding of system effects. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 19 (2/3), 149-158.
• STATISTICA (2020, October 2). Travel and tourism industry revenue in selected countries in 2019 and projected impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. Available at: https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1103432/covid-19-revenue-travel-tourism-industry-country-forecast.
• UNWTO (2003). Tourism Highlights. eISBN: 978-92-844-0664-7. Available at: https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/epdf/10.18111/9789284406647.
• UNWTO (2011). Toolbox for Crisis Communications in Tourism. UNWTO, Madrid
• UNWHO (2020 October, 12). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Situation Report – 209. Available at: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports.
• Uysal, D., Sarı, Y. and Taslacı, N. (2018). Crisis Management Performances of Turkish Hospitality Organisations: Crisis in Tourism and its Effective Management; A Qualitative Study from Turkey, Lambert Publishing, ISBN-13:978-613-9-58206-8
• Veal, A. J. (2006). Research Methods for Leisure and Tourism: A Practical Guide (3rd ed.). UK: Pearson Education Limited.
• VOX (2020, October 12). Phone booths, parades, and 10-minute test kits: How countries worldwide are fighting Covid-19. Available at: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/22/21189889/coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-response-south-korea phillipines-italy-nicaragua-senegal-hong-kong.