Do Natural Disasters Impact Tourism in New Zealand?

01. Title of the research

Do natural disasters like earthquakes impact on tourism in New Zealand?

02. Introduction

Tourism is a growing global trend and tourism will be the largest sector in the globe by the next decade. Tourism has been given great attention in the media today as well. (Ghimire, 2016) There is a growing amount of worldwide disasters and crises ranging from natural disasters, human-induced disasters, financial crisis and threats to biosecurity which impact on the tourism industry and tourism operations around the world. (Miller, Gonzalez, & Hutter, 2017). Among those threats, natural disasters take a major affect and there were many natural disasters occurred during the last 10 to 15 years which affected heavily in the tourism and hospitality industry in those countries. Also, there is a noticeable increment in natural disasters all around the world during last decade. (Miller, Gonzalez, & Hutter, 2017). Therefore, it has become essential to find out up to which extent these issues such as natural disasters impact on tourism and hospitality industry.

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Crowley and Elliot (2012) identified New Zealand as one of the best prepared populations for earthquakes worldwide. However, this preparation has been limited by a series of occurrences that began in Christchurch, New Zealand’s second-biggest city, with an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 on 4 September 2010. In addition to the physical elements of earthquakes, Christchurch citizens had to face huge difficulties in the restoration process itself. (Berno, 2017) Christchurch is the second-largest city in New Zealand including residents and tourists. Therefore, this incident affected the tourism industry directly. (Berno, 2017). Some of the cities in New Zealand categorized as high-risk cities for earthquakes such as the South Islands. Many cities are categorized as vulnerable to earthquake occurrence. Also, there are many precautions have been taken to protect people. As an example, building regulations/restrictions. (Egbelakin, Wilkinson, & Ingham, 2014) The Alpine Fault, as an instance, is a geological structure which runs over the southern alpine Alps in New Zealand for a length of 450 km. Paleo seismic proofs show that a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 to 8 is Overdue. The scenario planning approach uses a seismically modeling methodology to describe a range of certain vulnerabilities within the tourism industry and highlight physical results and consequences of a future earthquake in the Alpine Fault which will affect tourism infrastructure, transport, food supply, rescue and survival. (Orchiston, 2012)

03. Research Significance

The significance of the subject for the tourism sector is motivated mainly by fear of changes in demand because of unexpected occurrences that are beyond tourist authorities’ and industry’s control. Therefore, it is essential to get a thorough knowledge of tourists’ issues and how they may respond to distinct types of occurrences during the process of choosing a trip or destination.

The main aim of this research is to find out what are the primary factors that most tourists concern about when they are choosing a holiday destination. Especially to identify whether tourists have any type of fears about natural disasters.  Also, we will be able to identify secondary factors as well. In this research target group will be FITs, group travelers and corporate travelers who are already touring in New Zealand and FITs, group travelers and corporate travelers who are on the process of deciding to travel to New Zealand.

04. Methodology and Data Collection

Method of collecting data will be quantitative and will be using  an online questionnaire survey such as google forum consisting of approximately 25 questions which should take approximately 20 minutes to complete and will be distributed to tourists who are on the process of planning their holiday (50 questionnaire forms) and tourists who are already in New Zealand as tourists (50 questionnaire forms). This method is suitable for comparing the answers and evaluating them. Secondary data will be derived from annual reports, newspapers, journals, associated books, published reports and global disaster-related websites. (Bhati, Upadhayaya, & Sharma, 2016) Therefore, it is hoped that the result of this focus group study will be a clearer identification of whether tourists concern about risks of natural disasters before they plan their holiday and how they think about those factors once they have arrived in their holiday destination. Questionnaire survey which will explain these factors in greater depth.

New Zealand’s visitors to all of its main source markets, including China and the UK, have already gone down for numerous reasons. In traditional markets like Australia and UK, this decrease ranged from 3% to 5% and by 10% for China, the USA and Canada. (Clark, 2008) Therefore, this research provides an analysis of the impacts of national disasters on the tourism sector and the economic performance and effectiveness of measures introduced by organizations. The results of this research will show in relation to the research questions of the current study whether natural disasters have an influence on the results of the tourism industry and on their economy in a county. Whether national disasters have harmful consequences on tourism arrivals in New Zealand. The end results will be helpful for the people who are working in the travel trade and hospitality industry who are promoting New Zealand tourism in other countries and how to attract their customers and travelers. As well this study will be benefited to those tourists who are planning to visit New Zealand in the future.

05. Research question and Objective

R.Q. 1  : Do tourists concern about natural disasters when they are selecting New Zealand as their holiday destination?

R.O. 1.1: To measure the percentage of tourists who concern about risk of natural disasters in their holiday destination (New Zealand)

References

1. Berno, T. (2017). Social enterprise, sustainability and community in post-earthquake Christchurch. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
2. Bhati, A., Upadhayaya, A., & Sharma, A. (2016). National disaster management in the ASEAN-5: an analysis of tourism resilience. Tourism Review of AIEST – International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism, 148-164.
3. Clark, K. (2008). Meltdown affecting New Zealand tourism. Manama: SyndiGate Media Inc.
4. Egbelakin, T., Wilkinson, S., & Ingham, J. (2014). Economic impediments to successful seismic retrofitting decisions. Structural Survey; Bradford, 449-466.
5. Ghimire, H. (2016). Disaster Management and Post-quake impact on Tourism in Nepal. The Gaze: Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, 37.
6. Miller, D. S., Gonzalez, C., & Hutter, M. (2017). Phoenix tourism within dark tourism: Rebirth, rebuilding and rebranding of tourist destinations following disasters. Phoenix tourism within dark tourism: Rebirth, rebuilding and rebranding of tourist destinations following disasters, 20.
7. Orchiston, C. (2012). Seismic risk scenario planning and sustainable tourism management: Christchurch and the Alpine Fault zone, South Island, New Zealand. Journal of Sustainable Tourism; Clevedon, 59.
8. Sheldon, G. M. (2000, Page 13). A Comprehensive Handbook on Financing Your Education, Managing Your Expenses & Planning for a Debt-Free Future. Insomniac Press.