Tourism Disaster Risk Communication: Foreign Employees’ Preparedness and Involvement in the Japanese Accommodation Industry

ABSTRACT Tourism operators play an important role in risk communication during a natural disaster. This study focussed on foreign employees in the Japanese accommodation industry and explored their preparedness for natural disasters and involvement in the disaster risk communication process. Adopting the mental models approach as the basis for the investigation, semi-structured interviews were conducted with foreign employees working at traditional Japanese-style inns (ryokan). The results indicated that foreign workers often do not receive training on how to handle natural disasters at work and are excluded from the risk communication process. Furthermore, their knowledge of local hazards was limited. As this is a timely and important topic, future research directions are proposed to extend discussion on this topic further.