Tourism management and the Southeast Asian economic and environmental crisis: a Singapore perspective

Abstract

The paper is an introduction to some of the issues raised by recent developments in Southeast Asia which has been experiencing financial turmoil and serious environmental pollution. It identifies the problems these circumstances have created in general for the tourism industries of the countries affected including National Tourist Organizations, concentrating on the particular case of Singapore. Responses in both the public and private sectors are considered within the context of crisis management theory. The importance of crisis management planning is emphasized, although the difficulties of implementation are also illustrated. While the severe smog eased at the end of 1997, there is a likelihood of it returning in the future and economic uncertainty continues so it is not yet possible to assess fully the final consequences of events and the effectiveness of the strategies adopted. A more comprehensive and longer-term study is therefore under way, but it is perhaps of interest and value to record the opening stages of the crisis and analyse early attempts to manage it.