Discipline: Tourism
Southeast Asia and North East Asia are among the fastest growing tourism destinations in the world. However, since the beginning of the 21st century the region’s tourism has been forced to respond to a wide range of crisis events which have challenged the reputation and marketability of the region and individual countries within it. This paper will focus on four specific external causes of tourism related crises, namely natural disasters, war, terrorism and politically motivated violence targeting tourists, epidemics and pandemics both perceived and actual. In adopting a regional overview it is notable that some crisis events, specifically the 2002 Bali bombing, the SARS outbreak of 2003 and the Indian Ocean earthquake/ tsunami of 2004, all of which had multinational impacts, sparked a united regional response under the auspices of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, ASEAN (Associations of Southeast Asian Nations) or APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation). It s also notable, that the growing significance of tourism in SE and NE Asian countries has increased the urgency of tourism recovery when crisis events occur. For many SE and NE Asian countries, negative travel advisories which are released by the governments of mainly Western travel generating countries are often considered as both a social and political affront against Asian nations. In the countries referred to in this paper , tourism is both a significant element in growing national economies and an important element in shaping and enhancing national reputation.
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