Micro-level assessment of regional and local disaster impacts in tourist destinations

ABSTRACT

The tourism sector faces severe challenges due to the economic impacts from changing natural environments as seen with the increased frequency of natural disasters. Therefore, analyses of disaster impacts models are necessary for managing successful tourism recovery. Typically, disaster assessments are conducted on a countrywide level, which can lead to imbalanced recovery processes, and a distorted distribution of recovery financing or subsidies. We address the challenges of recovery using the tourism disaster management framework by Faulkner. To calculate precise damage assessments, we develop a micro-level assessment model to analyze and understand disaster impacts at the micro-level supporting tourism recovery in an affected destination. We examine economic consequences of a disaster at a small regional scale arguing recovery from a natural disaster is more difficult in individual areas because of differences in geographic location or infrastructure development. The island of Dominica is chosen as an example for the model using statistical data from the tourism sector to outline and detail the consequences of a disaster specifically for communities. The results highlight the importance of damage assessments on a small-scale level, such as communities in order to distinguish between individual regions facing severe changes for resident livelihoods and the local tourism sector. We argue that only after identifying regional impacts it is possible to apply adequate governmental subsidies and development strategies for a country's tourism sector and residents in a continuously changing environment in the hopes of mitigating future financial losses and future climate change impacts.

摘要

随着自然灾害频繁发生, 自然环境的变化带来的经济影响, 旅游部门面临着严峻的挑战。因此, 对灾害影响模型的分析是成功复苏旅游业的必要条件。通常情况下, 灾难评估是在全国范围内进行的, 这可能导致复苏过程的不平衡, 以及资金或补贴分配的扭曲。我们利用福克纳(2001)的旅游灾害管理框架来应对旅游复苏的挑战。为了计算精确的损失估价, 我们开发了一个微观层面的评估模型, 分析和理解受灾目的地微观层面上支持旅游业复苏的灾难影响。我们在一个小规模的区域范围内研究灾难的经济后果, 认为由于地理位置或基础设施发展的不同, 个别地区自然灾害的恢复更加困难。多米尼加岛被选为该模型的范例, 利用旅游部门的统计数据, 对一场专门针对社区的灾难后果进行描绘和详细说明。这些结果突出了对小规模 (例如社区) 的损害评估的重要性, 以便区分居民生计面临严重变化的地区和当地旅游业面临严重变化的地区。我们认为, 只有在确定了区域影响之后, 才有可能在不断变化的环境中为一个国家的旅游部门和居民提供适当的政府补贴和发展战略, 以减轻未来的财政损失和气候变化的影响。

KEYWORDS:

• Natural disasters
• financial impacts
• micro-level assessment
• Caribbean tourism
• Dominica
• disaster recovery

关键词:

• 自然灾害
• 财政影响
• 微观尺度评价
• 加勒比海旅游
• 多米尼克
• 灾害复苏

Acknowledgement

We thank Samuel Raphael and Nancy Atzenweiler from the Jungle Bay Ressort for their support and for providing data about the Jungle Bay Resort. We also thank the Editors of this Special Issue and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jürgen Schmude

Jürgen Schmude is a professor of economic geography and tourism research at the Department of Geography, LMU Munich. The impact of global change on the tourist industry is a core element of his research.

Sahar Zavareh

Sahar Zavareh is a research associate at the Department of Geography, LMU Munich, Germany. Her research is focused on long-term disaster recovery of housing, tourism, and insurance.

Katrin Magdalena Schwaiger

Katrin Magdalena Schwaiger was a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, LMU Munich. Her research focused on tourism in the Caribbean with special focus on hospitality and sustainability.

Marion Karl

Marion Karl is a postdoc researcher at the Department of Geography, LMU Munich, Germany. She concentrates her research on travel decision-making and relevant influencing factors, among them perceptions of risk.