ABSTRACT
Although a global reality, the way crises are depicted by modern mass media creates a perception of omnipresence. Be it the destructive bush fires in Greece and Southern California in 2007, post election violence in Kenya in 2008 or the Tibetan protests and their connection to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, ‘crisis in tourism’ appears to be a topic of perennial concern. The spectrum of recent crises impacting on the tourism and hospitality industry has become large, ranging from the 2006 terrorist bombings in Egypt and Mumbai and in London in July 2005 during the European peak holiday season (Ladkin et al. 2007) and again on Bali in October of the same year (Gurtner 2006) to terrorism attacks in Madrid (2004), Jakarta (2003), Bali (2002) and September 11 (2001). Furthermore, natural disasters such as the Indian Ocean Tsunami affecting large parts of coastal South East (SE) Asia in 2004 (Sharpley 2005), bush fires in Australia’s capital Canberra (2002), the Asian economic crisis (1997), and health related threats such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), bird flu epidemics in SE Asia (2003/2004), and also the Foot and Mouth outbreak in Britain (2001) (Coles 2004; Frisby 2002; Irvine and Anderson 2005; Leslie and Black 2006; Miller and Ritchie 2003) all severely disrupted tourism business.
