CRISIS KNOWLEDGE IN TOURISM: TYPES, FLOWS AND GOVERNANCE

Driven by the rapidly growing number of crises that affect tourism, the study of crisis knowledge management is gaining an increased interest in the tourism field. Effective management of crisis knowledge enhances the resilience of tourism organizations and destinations in crisis situations, strengthens their defense mechanisms, limits potential damages and allows them to bounce back to normalcy faster. This paper uses critical incident interviews with 21 tourism executives in order to identify the types of crisis knowledge they employ in the advent of a crisis and to explore the crisis knowledge management processes and flows within their organizations. Drawing from extant generic literature and the informants’ responses, the paper proposes a framework for the governance of crisis knowledge in tourism.

► We explore the area of crisis knowledge management.
► We use critical incident interviews with 21 tourism executives.
► Crisis knowledge can be procedural, behavioural, third party or ‘learned ignorance’.
► We identify two flows of crisis knowledge and four processes to manage it.
► We propose a governance framework for managing crisis knowledge in tourism.