ABSTRACT
Disasters are events or incidents that occur naturally or caused by human effect which cause some distress or damage. A pandemic is one such disaster that can affect many people. Pandemics are epidemic diseases that spread over a wide region, sometimes even spreading around the whole globe. Such pandemics are not only crises on their own, but they also cause other crises, such as economic, political, social, and others. Pandemics fall into the “macro risks” class, which represents global and national risks, and have affected millions of people from past to present. Pandemics, such as the Black Death, cholera, Spanish flu, Asian flu, Hong Kong flu, SARS, avian flu, swine flu, MERS, Ebola, and the ongoing COVID-19 have caused damage to many people and have taken many lives around the world. Besides their effect on all sectors, these disasters have a negative impact especially on the tourism sector. Countries that are economically dependent on the tourism industry are heavily affected by the crises caused by pandemics and disasters. This chapter gives information about the history of disasters from past to present, particularly on epidemics that have caused a pandemic and their effects on the tourism sector.
