Political violence and hotels: economic consequences and response strategies

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine the economic consequences of political violence on hotels operating in Hawassa city and assess their response strategies to deal with the crisis. A qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews with 13 hotel general managers in Hawassa city was employed, and data from interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Study findings uncovered that political violence inflicted significant economic costs on hotels operating in the city. To deal with the effects of political violence, hotels put in place temporary but creatively crafted tools that resorted to cost reduction and marketing strategies. The study could help to better understand the vulnerability and resilience of tourism to political violence in the context of small-city hotels.

KEYWORDS:

• Political violence
• hotels
• economic consequences
• response strategies
• Hawassa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amare Yaekob Chiriko

Amare Yaekob is a lecturer of tourism management at School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hawassa University, Ethiopia. His research interests include destination management, tourism economics and ecotourism.