Factors influencing crisis preparedness of the tourism and hospitality industry in Egypt : employees' perception

Abstract EN

Increasingly, crises are an unavoidable aspect of business life, and hotels and travel agencies, as part of the vast tourism and hospitality industry, are especially vulnerable to crises that may destroy their favorable images.

Therefore, this study aims to investigate factors influencing crisis preparedness in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Four important factors; namely, employees' skills and experience, the role of management, business size and capabilities, and government support were chosen as the main factors that may influence crisis preparedness of the tourism and hospitality industry in Egypt.

Data were collected from 30 five-star hotels and 20 travel agents located in the Greater Cairo region in Egypt.

A total of 450 forms were collected; 315 and 135 questionnaires were collected from hotels and travel agencies, respectively.

Only 370 surveys, 260 from hotels and 110 from travel agencies, were valid for the final data analysis.

The results of the SmartPLS-SEM revealed that the investigated four factors, and crisis preparedness measures, all had a significant positive correlation.

Also, the results have revealed that employees' skills and experience have the strongest positive influence on the organization's crisis preparedness.

Finally, the study validates a new measurement to measure these factors along with theoretical and practical implications.