Skip to content
Journal On Tourism & Sustainability/JOURNAL ON TOURISM & SUSTAINABILITY/Article
Article recordVersion of recordOpen accessVol. 3 No. 2 (2020): JOURNAL ON TOURISM & SUSTAINABILITYMay 30, 2026DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20464878

Tourism Destination Crisis Management: The case study of Lesvos island, Greece

Tourism industry, one of the most dynamic industries worldwide is also one of the most vulnerable to crisis and disaster. This is mainly due to the fact that tourism is closely related and influenced by many external fa…

  • Contributor 1
  • Contributor 2

Reader actions

Resolve identifiers and download the published files.

View DOIDownload PDF
Abstract
Reader HTML view for the published article record.

Tourism industry, one of the most dynamic industries worldwide is also one of the most vulnerable to crisis and disaster. This is mainly due to the fact that tourism is closely related and influenced by many external factors such as exchange rates, the political and economic environment, climate, and weather conditions. Tourism success is directly linked to the ability of the destination to offer tourists a safe and enjoyable stay. In a changing globalized world where crises are affecting people’s lives, we are called not only to manage crises but also to manage every communication impact, making crisis management an integral part of effective Destination Management. Lesvos an island of the North Aegean Region in Greece is the case study area of this paper.  The island has been through the economic crisis of 2009 and the refugee crisis of 2015. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of the island’s local community, tourism stakeholder’s, and tourists visiting the island, how effectively the refugee crisis was managed at the destination. In the first part of the paper literature review is being conducted for crises management in tourism destinations, the refugee crisis in Greece and in North Aegean Region and more particular in Lesvos island. Primary research was conducted, and 262 filled questionnaires were collected. The findings and the conclusion are useful for the tourism authorities of Lesvos and for island destinations of the Mediterranean with similar characteristics and challenges. Keywords: Destination Management Organization, Crisis Management, Refugee crisis, Lesvos, Greece

References
Publication output reuses the stored scholarly reference text rather than a second reference system.
  1. 1.Al-Hamarneh, A., & Steiner, C. (2004). Islamic tourism: rethinking the strategies of tourism development in the Arab World after September 11, 2011. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 24(1), 175-186.
  2. 2.Aliperti, G., Frey M., Garschagen, M., Hagenlocherb, M.,Sandholzb, S. (2019). Tourism, crisis, disaster: an interdisciplinary approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 79, 1-5.
  3. 3.Atkinson, R. and Flint, J. (2001), “ Accessing hidden and hard ‐ to ‐ reach populations: snowball research strategies”, Social Research Update, Vol. 33, pp. 1 ‐ 5.
  4. 4.Avraham, E., & Ketter, E. (2008). Media strategies for marketing places in crisis: Improving the image of cities, countries, and tourist destinations. Routledge.
  5. 5.Banulescu-Bogdan, N., & Fratzke, S. (2015). Europe’s migration crisis in context: Why now and what next? The Online Journal of the Migration Policy Institute. Migration Information Source. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/e74kVm
  6. 6.Baruch, Y., & Holtom, B. C. (2008). Survey response rate levels and trends in organizational research. Human Relations, 61(8), 1139-1170. 29
  7. 7.Beirman D., (2003). Restoring Tourism Destinations in Crisis: A Strategic Marketing Approach. Allen &Unwin. Crows Nest. Australia.
  8. 8.Beirman, D. (2000). Destination marketing: the marketing of Israel in Australia and the south- west Pacific. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 6(2), 145e153.
  9. 9.Beirman, D. (2003). Restoring tourism destinations in crisis. Cambridge, UK: CABI.
  10. 10.Blain C., Levy E.S., Ritchie J. R. B., (2005). Destination Branding: Insights and Practices from Destination Management Organizations. Journal of Travel Research. 43:4. 328-338
  11. 11.Cabot H., (2019) The European Refugee Crisis and Humanitarian Citizenship in Greece, Ethnos, 84:5, 747-771
  12. 12.Cakar K., (2018). Critical success factors for tourist destination governance in times of crisis: a case study of Antalya, Turkey, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 35:6, 786-802.
  13. 13.Cederquist A., (2019) Civil society between void and action – the case of refugee support on Lesvos, Local Environment, 24:6, 509-524
  14. 14.Drabek, T., & Gee, C. (2000). Emergency management principles and applications for tourism, hospitality, and travel management. Washington DC: FEMA.
  15. 15.Faulkner, B. (2001). Towards a framework for tourism disaster management. Tourism Management, 22(2), 135–147.
  16. 16.Faulkner, B., & Vikulov, S. (2001). Katherine, washed out one day, back on track the next: A post mortem of a tourism disaster. Tourism Management, 22, 331–344.
  17. 17.Gurtner Y., (2016). Returning to paradise: Investigating issues of tourism crisis and disaster recovery on the island of Bali. Journal of hospitality and tourism management. 28. 11- 19.
  18. 18.Hall, C., Prayag, G., & Amore, A. (2018). Tourism and resilience: Individual, organisational and destination perspectives. Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications.
  19. 19.Heath R. (1998). Crisis management for managers and executives. Pearson Education.
  20. 20.INSETE INTELLIGENCE, (2019), «"The prospects of inbound tourism in Greece in 2019» http://www.insete.gr/Portals/0/meletes-INSETE/01/2019_Outlook-2019.pdf
  21. 21.Ivanov, S., & Stavrinoudis, T. A. (2018). Impacts of the refugee crisis on the hotel industry: Evidence from four Greek islands. Tourism Management, 67, 214–223. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2018.02.004
  22. 22.Mansfeld, Y., & Pizam, A. (2006). Tourism, security, and safety: From theory to practice. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
  23. 23.Mikulić J., Sprčić Milos D., Holiček H. , Prebežac D., (2018). Strategic crisis management in tourism: An application of integrated risk management principles to the Croatian tourism industry. Journal of destination marketing and management. 7. 36-38
  24. 24.Papastergiou V. & Takou E. (2018), " Myths and Migration in Greece", Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Greece
  25. 25.Pennington-Gray, L. (2017). Reflections to move forward: Where Destination Crisis Management Research Needs to Go, Tourism Management Perspectives. 25(2018) 136- 139.
  26. 26.Pforr C. & Hosie J.P., (2008). Crisis Management in Tourism, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 23:2-4, 249-264
  27. 27.Prayag G. (2018). Symbolic relationship or not? Understanding resilience and crisis management in tourism. Tourism Management Perspectives, 25, 133-135.
  28. 28.Ritchie W. B. & Campiranon K. (2015), « Tourism Crisis and disaster management in The Asia- Pacific», UK: CABI Publishing
  29. 29.Ritchie, B. W. (2004). Chaos, crises and disasters: A strategic approach to crisis management in the tourism industry. Tourism Management, 25, 669–683.
  30. 30.Ritchie, B. W. (2009). Crisis and Disaster Management for Tourism. United Kingdom: Channel View Publications. 30
  31. 31.Sofield, T, (2003). Empowerment for Sustainable Tourism Development, Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford, UK
  32. 32.Sonmez, S. F. (1998). Tourism, terrorism, and political instability. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(2), 416e456.
  33. 33.Sonmez, S. F., Apostolopoulos, Y., & Tarlow, P. (1999). Tourism in crisis: managing the effects of terrorism. Journal of Travel Research, 38(1), 13-18.
  34. 34.Speakman M., Sharpley R., (2012). A chaos theory perspective on destination crisis management: Evidence from Mexico. Journal of destination marketing and management. 1:1-2. 67-77
  35. 35.Tarlow, P. (2005). Terrorism and tourism. e-Review of Tourism Research, 3(5).
  36. 36.Taylor, P. A. (2006). Getting them to forgive and forget: cognitive based marketing responses to terrorist acts. International Journal of Tourism Research, 8, 171e183.
  37. 37.Trihas N., Tsilimpokos K., (2018). Refeugee crisis and volunteer tourism in Lesvos, Greece. Journal on tourism and sustainability. 2:1. 42-56 Tsartas P., Kyriakaki A., Stavrinoudis T., Despotaki G., Doumi M., Sarantakou E. & Tsilimpokos
  38. 38.K., (2019). Refugees and tourism: a case study from the islands of Chios and Lesvos, Greece, Current Issues in Tourism https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2011.630457
  39. 39.UNHCR. (1967). Convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees. Geneva: UNHCR. UN Refugee Agency. (2016a). UNHCR viewpoint: ‘Refugee’ or ‘migrant’ e which is right?. Retrieved on 23 March, 2020 from http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/ 2016/7/55df0e556/unhcr-viewpoint-refugee-migrant-right.html. UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency (2018) Refugees & Migrants Sea Arrivals in Europe.
  40. 40.UNHR. (2015). The sea route to Europe: The Mediterranean passage in the age of refugees. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/8URK97
  41. 41.UNISDR United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. (2015). Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction (online) http://www.unisdr.org/we/inform/publications/43291 Accessed 12 December 2019 .
  42. 42.World Tourism Organization. (2009). Tourism and migration: Exploring the relationship between two global phenomena. World Tourism Organization.
  43. 43.WTO (2019). UNWTO Guidelines for Institutional Strengthening of Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) – Preparing DMOs for new challenges. Retrieved from https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284420841
  44. 44.WTO, (2019), International Tourism Highlights. 2019 Edition. Retrieved from https://www.e- unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284421152
  45. 45.WTTC, (2019). Travel & Tourism. Economic impact 2019. World
  46. 46.Young B.W. & Montgomery J.R., (1997). Crisis Management and Its Impact on Destination Marketing, Journal of Convention & Exhibition Management, 1:1, 3-18. Contributors: Dr Constantoglou Mary, University of the Aegean, Department of Economic and Tourism Management, Chios, Greece & Michael Prinitis Hellenic Open University, Tourism Business Administration MSc, Patra, Greece Corresponding Author: Dr Mary Constantoglou. Email: mkon@env.aegean.gr 31