Crisis Communication and Destination Image Management during COVID-19: A Case of Top Ten International Tourist Arrival Countries

Abstract

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The outbreak of COVID-19 has come as a disastrous blow on the tourism industry worldwide. Incidentally, several developed economies that are highly popular destinations and feature in the top rankings of international tourist arrivals, have been severely hit by the virus. Consequently the image of these countries has been adversely affected, creating a negative public perception about prevailing health and safety risks therein. There is deep concern for these destinations about ‘when’ and ‘how’ things will return to normalcy and if image recovery would be possible. As the pandemic lingers on indefinitely and tourism continues to suffer, tourism destinations cannot withdraw into complacency, but need to engage more actively with tourists through crisis communication. Communicating up-to-date credible information, combating developing negative images and continuous perception management through convincing outreach becomes increasingly vital in times of a disaster in order to allay the fears of tourists and reassure them. This qualitative study investigates whether or not, the global top ranking tourism destinations are engaged in any focused crisis communication and destination image management during the ongoing pandemic. The findings reveal that Spain has remained most proactive in image management and regular crisis communicating with tourists, with use of continuous, frequently changing creative messages and up-to-date comprehensive covid information. Spain’s communication signifies that ‘it is not the end all’ of travel and tourism. While most other countries also continue to engage with tourists at some level, the tourism website of France stands out as conspicuously outdated and silent on the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19, Crisis Management, Destination Image, Recovery Marketing

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