Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

Type of Business Crisis
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York
City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, touched off a myriad of events that had a
devastating impact on the US economy (Pearlstein, 2001; Schneider, 2001). One of
the business sectors that suffered massive losses from the terrorist attacks was the
tourism and hospitality industry (Pressley, 2001; Higgins and Drucker, 2001;
Business and terrorism, 2001). For the first time in US history, there was a complete
shutdown of the US aviation system, creating such huge losses that a federal gov-
ernment bailout and guaranteed loans for airlines were warranted. Hotel occupancy
rates in many major cities dropped precipitously after the September 11 terrorist
attacks, as guests cancelled or postponed their travel plans. Since the tourism and
hospitality industry mainly caters to visitors who are away from home enjoying
attractions, visiting retail outlets, conducting business, or attending meetings and
visitors use the transportation infrastructure in all these activities, the hospitality
industry is particularly vulnerable to any disastrous event impacting transportation
services. The immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks was a sud-
den and severe disruption to normal operations.
The operation of any business involves risks. Sudden disruptive events, trig-
gered by uncontrollable external forces such as nature, human elements, or inter-
nal organizational failure, are the most devastating. The occurrence of a sudden or
unpredictable disruptive event is often depicted by the news media as a crisis. In
the context of business, a crisis is defined as an event that can tarnish a company’s
reputation or is severely detrimental to a company’s long-term profitability,
growth, and even its survival (Lerbinger, 1997).
Managers of business operations may encounter various types of crises. Crises
are conceptually defined in seven categories. Table 1 describes the nine types of
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crises that managers are likely to experience in operations. Crises of the physical
environment include natural disasters and technology failure. Natural disasters
have always been a threat to hospitality operations because natural hazards such as
volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, landslides, and floods menace life,
property, and the environment. Hospitality operations on the Caribbean islands and
Hawaii are often interrupted by hurricanes (called cyclones in the Pacific), such as
Hurricane Luis and Hurricane Marylyn on St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix in
September 1995. Technology failure relates to accidents caused by human appli-
cation of science and technology in harnessing the physical environment. The
nuclear power plant explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 was a good example of tech-
nological crisis because airborne radiation reached many parts of Europe, and
Washington, DC Hotels’ Response to Terrorism
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