Tourism Innovation and Resilience during Uncertainty

Abstract

The tourism industry is characterised by uncertainty as, given its nature, it is highly susceptible to risks. Over the years, there has been a noticeable increase in uncertainty as a result of various crises (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic, economic crisis etc) influencing the global travel and tourism industry. Even so, international tourism flows continued to grow amidst the increasing uncertainty and whilst facing new emerging crises such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Uncertainty and disruption are not new to the tourism industry; in fact, tourism has proven to be rather resilient to negative events that impacted tourist demand and operations and, eventually, managed to recover, adapt and innovate. It is, thus, not surprising that resilience and innovation studies have adopted a crisis recovery angle, focusing on value-creating strategies and practices. Relevant literature suggests that success in tourism lies in the innovative stance employed by stakeholders as well as the resilience shown by destinations and companies alike at times of uncertainty. Externalities that impact global tourism causing an uncertain environment are not only yielding challenges and threats but also bear opportunities that allow policymakers and industry practitioners to rethink of tourism planning and development. This special issue aims to deepen understanding on innovation and resilience aspects in tourism by following a multi-disciplinary approach that uncovers the internal and external dynamics that affect the evolution, planning and development of tourism at times of uncertainty. Judging by the collection of articles published in this special issue which present rich research findings that carry theoretical and practical implications, it seems that the aim has been successfully achieved. The special issue comprises of eight articles examining resilience and innovation in hospitality and tourism settings, showcasing findings from a variety of study contexts both in terms of sector and geographical location. The first article in the special issue, written by Saiful Islam, Mishkatul Kabir and Kamrul Hassan and titled “Resilience strategies of tour operators during the uncertainty of COVID19: Evidence from Bangladesh”, discusses resilience strategies that tour operators in Bangladesh adopted to withstand the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors’ study findings highlight the importance of resilience in tourism settings, identifying strategies of external agencies as well as tour operators as influential on the resilience-building goal of tourism businesses. Hence, resilience presents itself as a multi-dimensional construct and relevant research needs to capture this complexity. In their paper, Islam et al. offer a three-dimensional mechanism that lists three broader categories of resilience-building strategies: a) innate resilience, b) internally-induced resilience and c) externally-induced resilience. This conceptual framework can help tour operators, government agencies and other tourism stakeholders in improving the resilience strategies adopted to address uncertainties impacting tourism. Mahfuzuar Rahman Barbhuiya and Devlina Chatterjee further highlight the importance of resilience in organisational settings in their paper titled “Just survive or thrive? Effect of psychological and organisational resilience on adoption of innovative strategies by hospitality