Crisis in the city? A systematic literature review of crises and tourism cities

ABSTRACT

Tourism destinations are prone to crises and disasters that can cause significant loss and damage, with cities even more exposed to such events due to their complex nature. This was evidenced by the current coronavirus pandemic that had a devastating impact for many city destinations. Yet, this is an area of research that has attracted little attention from academics until recently. This study provides an in-depth systematic review of the research published to date on crises in tourism cities and discusses how this field has evolved over the years. The findings show that while there is a healthy amount of literature on crises in cities and a consistent body of knowledge on tourism crises, cities are somewhat overlooked in the context of tourism crises. Several other imbalances are highlighted regarding the type of crises discussed, regions studied, research methods employed, and topics discussed. Finally, several avenues for future research are proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Crises in cities
• tourism cities
• tourism crises
• crisis management
• systematic review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cristina Maxim

Cristina Maxim, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism at the London Geller College of Hospitality and Tourism, University of West London. Her research interests are focused on destination management, cities, sustainability, tourism planning and management, regional development and local government. She has published a number of academic papers and book chapters on urban tourism, and recently co-authored a book on World Tourism Cities.

Alastair M. Morrison

Alastair M. Morrison, PhD, is a Research Professor in Marketing, Events and Tourism at the Greenwich Business School, University of Greenwich. Formerly, he was a Distinguished Professor at Purdue University, USA, specialising in the area of tourism and hospitality marketing. He has published approximately 300 academic articles and conference proceedings and is the author of six books on tourism marketing and development. Prof. Morrison is the co-editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Tourism Cities and co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Tourism Cities.