tourism business risk

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This document gives guidance to organizations on how to manage the risk(s), to the organization and its travellers, as a result of undertaking travel.

This document provides a structured approach to the development, implementation, evaluation and review of:

• programme development;
• threat and hazard identification;
• opportunities and strengths;
• risk assessment;
• prevention and mitigation strategies.

This document is applicable to any type of organization, irrespective of sector or size, including but not limited to:

• commercial organizations;
• charitable and not-for-profit organizations;
• governmental organizations;
• non-governmental organizations;
• educational organizations.

This document does not apply to tourism and leisure-related travel, except in relation to travellers travelling on behalf of the organization.

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General information.

• Status  :  Published Publication date  :  2021-09 Stage : International Standard published [ 60.60 ]
• Edition  : 1 Number of pages  : 48
• Technical Committee : ISO/TC 262 ICS  : 03.100.01  
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• ISO 31030:2021
• 00 Preliminary
• 10.99 2018-07-06 New project approved
• 20.00 2018-07-06 New project registered in TC/SC work programme
• 30.00 2020-02-07 Committee draft (CD) registered
• 30.20 2020-02-07 CD consultation initiated
• 30.60 2020-04-04 Close of comment period
• 30.99 2020-08-06 CD approved for registration as DIS
• 40.00 2020-09-01 DIS registered
• 40.20 2020-11-03 DIS ballot initiated: 12 weeks
• 40.60 2021-01-27 Close of voting
• 40.99 2021-05-19 Full report circulated: DIS approved for registration as FDIS
• 50.00 2021-05-19 Final text received or FDIS registered for formal approval
• 50.20 2021-06-22 Proof sent to secretariat or FDIS ballot initiated: 8 weeks
• 50.60 2021-08-18 Close of voting. Proof returned by secretariat
• 60.00 2021-08-18 International Standard under publication
• 60.60 2021-09-14 International Standard published
• 90.20 International Standard under systematic review
• 90.60 Close of review
• 90.92 International Standard to be revised
• 90.93 International Standard confirmed
• 90.99 Withdrawal of International Standard proposed by TC or SC
• 95.99 Withdrawal of International Standard

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The complete guide to a business travel risk assessment in 2022

Are you sending corporate travellers back out into the world here’s how to build risk assessment systems that protect your people in a post-pandemic world. .

As we slowly emerge from two years of COVID-related restrictions, business travellers are packing their suitcases and heading out into the world once more. While it’s nice to see some normality creeping back, it’s also a good time to reassess risk protocols for a changed travel landscape.  

There’s a lot to consider when it comes to risk management. Is your business still relying on pre-COVID risk assessments? Are you taking new risks and restrictions into account? How are you managing risk mitigation? Are you focused on compliance and risk to the business, or traveller risk?  

Read on for our comprehensive guide to corporate travel risk assessment in a post-pandemic world. 

What is a travel risk assessment?  

Business travel comes with risks to both the traveller and the business itself – from missed flights to sickness to natural disasters. Post-COVID, lockdowns and isolation requirements can also pose problems. Travel risk assessments help businesses meet their duty of care obligations, protect their staff and ensure business continuity if anything goes wrong during a trip.  

While a travel risk assessment can’t predict every single eventuality, it can help businesses plan for the worst and keep staff safe while they’re out of the office. A well-designed corporate travel risk assessment will include a rundown of risks to the individual traveller and the business, an evaluation of the likelihood of each risk and mitigation measures for a range of scenarios.  

Raychil Coutts, Corporate Traveller’s Customer Success Leader, explains that customers are rethinking their travel policies to factor in post-pandemic safety .  

“The whole purpose is to challenge a customer to start thinking about the different categories of travel returning. What, as a company, are they doing well? What do they need to work on? Once you’ve highlighted those areas, they can amend internal travel policies and, ultimately, create a clear plan to communicate pre-travel, during travel and post-travel.”  

Business travel and risk in 2022 – what’s changed?  

Business travel has always come with risk. In the last few years, thanks to the pandemic, increasing extreme weather events and political instability, those risks have reached a new level. And the perception of risk is on the rise. According to one study , 75% of Australian and New Zealand businesses felt that travel risks increased in 2021, with 42% expecting those risks to increase even further in 2022.   

Beyond risk, business travel – and business in general – has gone through a messy transformation over the past two years. The pandemic, better cloud access, remote work software and digital natives moving into the workforce have changed the game forever. Working from home has become standard as have hybrid employees, and many businesses now employ remote workers overseas. This means work is no longer neatly divided between in-office and travel. As a result, more businesses are shifting their approach from travel risk management to people-centric risk management, to keep employees safe, no matter where they are.  

Here's what to watch for in 2022:  

• Changing workplace policies to reflect new employment and travel realities  
• Acknowledgement of broad risks in business travel – including extreme weather events, terrorism and cybersecurity risks 
• Increasing awareness of emotional and mental health needs for employees, particularly during business travel – a recent study found that 45% of business travellers have felt anxious or stressed during their trip  
• Re-evaluation of travel risk management programs as travel resumes  
• More flexibility in business travel, as employers let their employees extend trips for leisure  

Your travel risk assessment guide

When should you do a travel risk assessment  .

A risk assessment probably isn’t needed for a conference in your city – but it’s worth doing for any substantial business trip.  

• International travel   Every international trip should involve a risk assessment – the details will depend on where your employees are headed, how long they are staying and the nature of their work.  
• Domestic travel  Domestic travel generally comes with lower risks, but it’s still worth doing a risk assessment in most cases – particularly if employees will be travelling to multiple destinations.  
• Repeat destinations   As long as travel advice and the employee’s individual risk factors stay the same, it’s not necessary to do a brand-new assessment for repeated trips to the same destination.  
• Last-minute travel   While you may not be able to complete a comprehensive assessment for a last-minute trip, it’s well worth doing a quick risk rundown.  

How to create a travel risk assessment  

A travel risk assessment should be completed for each employee travelling on behalf of your business. Whether they’re travelling internationally or staying in the country, heading off for six weeks or six days, visiting a dangerous destination or a quiet country town, it’s a key part of the planning process.  

Done well, a risk assessment covers your corporate obligations and gives your employees peace of mind while they’re travelling. Because everyone involved knows the potential risks and the mitigation plan, there’s no confusion if and when something goes wrong.  

Risk assessment overview:  

• Identify environmental threats.  
• Identify risks to the individual/s travelling.  
• Create a risk assessment matrix (see below) and evaluate each risk factor.  
• Write a mitigation plan for each risk.  
• Communicate risks and mitigation plans to the traveller/s, your in-office team and any other stakeholders.  
• Review and update risk assessment as needed.  

A travel management company (TMC) can be an integral part of your risk assessment strategy. Unlike a traditional travel agency, a TMC provides a broader range of services and in-depth support, particularly for large corporates. As an expert on business travel, it can also provide advice and support around potential risks during the assessment process.    

Part One: Identifying business travel risks  

Risk assessments involve several elements, depending on the destination and the individual traveller. It’s essential to go through your list and identify any risk factors that might affect your staff or your business during travel.  

Individual risks  

Get your staff members to fill in a risk assessment form well before they travel, so you can assess their individual risk levels accurately. While you don’t want to intrude on your employees’ privacy, it is important to know about risk factors that could come up during travel.   

This should cover:  

• General health: does the employee feel healthy enough to travel?  
• Health conditions: do they have health conditions or disabilities that could require accommodation during the trip, e.g. a chronic health condition that requires frequent breaks or mobility issues needing a car service or taxi rather than a hire car?  
• Allergies and food restrictions: allergies could make it difficult to find suitable food in certain countries, and require a plan in case of a reaction, e.g. a person with a peanut allergy travelling in South East Asia.  
• Gender: this can be an increased risk factor in some areas.  
• Other restrictions: does the traveller have a driver’s licence? Will they be able to drive a rental car after an overnight flight? This is about personal limitations and preferences as well.   

The next part of the process involves looking at the risks associated with your destination. People often focus on the potential for major events like natural disasters or terrorist attacks, but it’s far more likely that your team will run into minor disruptions. Even things like sickness or car accidents can be difficult to deal with when you’re away from home, so it’s crucial to plan for this type of event as well.  

“It’s about that risk factor –if we send somebody to Shanghai right now, what are the actual risk factors of going to that country? Unfortunately, it’s not just COVID. There are other things to factor in – healthcare, the status of a country’s crime, civil unrest – all those things. So, a good knowledge of the destination is all part of the process.”  

Transport:  

• Travel restrictions in the area   
• Rules around foreign licences for rental cars  
• On which side of the road must you drive?  
• Any increased travel risks – e.g. poor quality roads, dangerous local traffic, extreme weather

Illness and injury:  

• Increased risk of illness or disease, e.g. malaria in some countries, COVID in others
• Vaccinations or medication required before travel  
• Healthcare availability at the destination – how do travellers get treatment for injuries or illness?  

Crime and political instability:  

• What’s the political situation, and could it change quickly?  
• Does the NZ Government recommend travel to the destination?  
• Crime rates 

Natural disasters and weather events:  

• Does the destination have a high number of natural disasters or extreme weather?  
• Timing – some weather events are more common at certain times of the year, e.g. bushfires in Australia during summer, tornado season in parts of the US.  

Third-party contractors and providers:   

• Reliability and safety of third-party contractors, e.g. will hired drivers show up on time and drive safely?  
• Accommodation security, e.g. are hotels safe and secure?  

Internet access and cybersecurity  

• Availability and reliability of internet access – particularly if employees will be visiting remote areas  
• Cybersecurity and the risk of security breaches while working remotely  

- Entry requirements for your traveller’s destination, e.g. vaccination requirements, recent negative test results  

- Restrictions for the area, e.g. mask requirements or social distancing  

- Isolation rules – if a traveller catches COVID, where will they isolate?  

Know before you go – be prepared with the latest COVID-19 information: 

COVID-19 Travel Hub

Part Two: Risk management planning  

After you’ve worked through the risks involved with an upcoming trip, you need to create a risk management plan. It’s not necessary to write up a detailed mitigation plan for every tiny risk factor, but it is important to include major risks – and the most likely possibilities. 

Policy changes 

• Limit the number of travellers on the same flight.  
• Set policies around approval for travel and risk assessment requirements.  
• Regularly review travel policies. 
• Create policies around coverage for sickness and other events – if an employee has to isolate while overseas, who pays for accommodation?  
• Build trust and confidence in your employees by providing flexible, transparent and safety-focused travel policies.  
• Re-evaluate travel expectations where possible – review your policies around essential and non-essential travel, limit the number of employees travelling at any one time, and offer remote options if available.  

Contact and support  

• Have tools in place to contact, locate and support travellers during a crisis – and be proactive about reaching out if they may be in trouble.  
• Keep thorough records of flights, travel and accommodation bookings – and stay on top of changes and delays.  
• Keep up with travel alerts and news updates.  
• Stay in touch with travellers while they’re away, so you can be aware of issues as soon as they arise.   

Review and revise  

• Get feedback from travellers and other business travel stakeholders after a trip.  
• Review your risk assessment and management plan regularly.  

Assess and mitigate with Corporate Traveller  

Does a travel risk assessment sound more complicated than ever? Working with a TMC like Corporate Traveller, you’ll get support through the risk assessment process and a range of travel risk management solutions, tools and resources . As business travel experts, we’re well informed about the current risks and ongoing issues associated with almost any destination, so we can ensure that you’re informed as well.  

Most importantly, we’re there when the unexpected happens. Our team of experts are dedicated to making your corporate travel experience simpler, faster, and easier, and in the event of a crisis, you have 24/7 access to people who know your business, your duty of care obligations, and what needs to be done to keep your business travellers safe.  

Now more than ever, bring an expert on board 

After the last two years, we’ve seen the widespread impact of COVID-19 and helped countless businesses deal with disrupted and restricted business travel. Although we all hope that the pandemic has passed its worst point, that knowledge will help us support businesses through lingering restrictions.    

• Bookings made through our system – from flights to cars to hotels – are automatically tracked, giving you comprehensive visibility of staff while they’re away.  
• Travellers’ details are stored in the system along with their locations, making it easier to get in touch in an emergency.  
• You can set travel alerts for specific areas, so you and your staff get email or text updates about their destination. These can include weather alerts, traffic information and other disruptions.  
• You have access to our range of travel risk assessment resources, helping you assess your own risks and create effective mitigation plans.  

Raychil explains that visibility and communication are key: “If you can’t, really quickly, identify where your people are, that’s a huge risk for traveller safety . And if you’re sending people internationally, ensure you have a plan linking back to your crisis plan. What will happen if somebody falls sick with COVID? What will your company cover? You’ve got to have really clear expectations from the top down, so people know what’s expected.”    

Of course, it all starts with a thorough business travel risk assessment. Our team can help you through the assessment process, offer input on your travel policies and give you resources and support as you develop your own risk assessment plan.  

For advice on how to develop a crisis management plan for your business, and how to incorporate it into your travel policy with the right process and technology, talk to Corporate Traveller today. We can help you create a simple travel policy-on-a-page to assist travellers and work towards embedding crisis management firmly in your travel program.  

Let us help with your business travel

Tourism at Risk: A Review of Risk and Perceived Risk in Tourism

• Review Paper
• Open access
• Published: 14 March 2015
• Volume 3 , article number  13 , ( 2014 )

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• Elaine Chiao Ling Yang 1 &
• Vikneswaran Nair 2  

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Since the 9/11 attack in 2001, a number of major tragedies, including the SARS outbreak, the Bali bombings, and the Asian tsunami, have swept the tourism industry across the globe. The impact of these crises was unprecedented and thus, it raises the necessity to review the existing risk literature in tourism. This paper reviews the multi-dimensional concept of risk in tourism by analyzing 46 selected articles following the guidelines of content analysis. The findings are categorized into four broad meaning themes: (1) the concept of risk, safety and security; (2) the research trend of risk in tourism; (3) the definitions and antecedents of perceived risk; and (4) risk as a positive element. Based on the analysis, a framework is proposed for future research. The originality of this study lies in its attempt to conceptualize a comprehensive framework of risk perception in tourism as the existing literature tends to be empirically skewed, resulting in theoretical frameworks underused or applied in a fragmented way.

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Elaine Chiao Ling Yang

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Suggested citation: Yang, E.C.L. & Nair, V. (2014). Tourism at risk: A review of risk and perceived risk in tourism. Asia-Pacific Journal of Innovation in Hospitality and Tourism , 3(2), 239-259.

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Yang, E., Nair, V. Tourism at Risk: A Review of Risk and Perceived Risk in Tourism. Asia-Pac J Innov Hosp Tour 3 , 13 (2014). https://doi.org/10.7603/s40930-014-0013-z

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Published : 14 March 2015

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The Emerald Handbook of Entrepreneurship in Tourism, Travel and Hospitality

ISBN : 978-1-78743-530-8 , eISBN : 978-1-78743-529-2

Publication date: 11 July 2018

This chapter aims to present the key issues and main aspects of risk management (RM), as they relate to tourism entrepreneurship, with a focus on the RM plan and the various strategies used in controlling risks.

Methodology/approach

Literature review was conducted and managerial issues and aspects regarding RM in tourism entrepreneurship were highlighted. These issues were illustrated by one example and two case studies from the business world.

This chapter suggests that every probable risk must have a pre-formulated plan to deal with its possible consequences. In the field of tourism entrepreneurship, the elimination of risk by putting safety measures in place is not simply achieved by taking precautions in a haphazard manner. Rather, these tasks require a proactive approach, an intricate and logical plan.

Research limitations

This chapter is explorative in nature, based on a literature review and case study analysis. It takes more entrepreneurial/practical than academic approach.

Managerial/practical implications

This chapter provides RM process as a generic framework for entrepreneurs/managers in the identification, analysis, assessment, treatment and monitoring of risk related to their business ventures. It also suggests the appropriate steps to follow to efficiently managing risks. Every tourism enterprise should have a strategy and an emergency/contingency plan to address risks.

Originality/value

This chapter outlines, in a comprehensive and practical way, a strategic approach to risk management for the tourism enterprises. It also highlights the importance and utility of planning and implementing of a suitable strategy to effectively address business-related risks.

• Risk management
• Tourism venture

Papaioannou, E. and Shen, S. (2018), "Risk Management in Tourism Ventures", Sotiriadis, M. (Ed.) The Emerald Handbook of Entrepreneurship in Tourism, Travel and Hospitality , Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 223-240. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78743-529-220181017

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FCM’s Travel Risk Assessment Checklist 

Your guide to corporate travel risk assessment 

Business travel (and business in general) has gone through a messy transformation over the past two years. How are travel risk management programs keeping up? 

Between the pandemic and better cloud access, remote work software and digital natives moving into the workforce – the game has changed forever. As a result, more businesses are shifting their approach from travel risk management to people-centric risk management, keeping employees safe, no matter where they are.   

Here’s how you can follow suit. 

What is a travel risk assessment? 

From missed flights and food poisoning, to natural disasters and disease outbreaks – business travel poses risks to both the traveler(s) and your business itself. Pre-travel risk assessments help organizations of all sizes meet their duty of care (DOC) obligations , protect their staff, and ensure business continuity should something go wrong during any phase of the trip.   

That being said, it can’t predict every probable outcome. However, a well-designed corporate travel risk assessment can help businesses prepare for the worst and keep your employees safe while they’re out of office.

When do I need to carry out a risk assessment? 

While risk assessments are not compulsory for domestic travel, they are strongly encouraged for any substantial or complicated business trip. 

New Destinations

International travel, last minute trips, how to complete a travel risk assessment in 5 simple steps .

Done well, a travel risk assessment template helps you cover your corporate obligations and gives your employees peace of mind while they’re traveling. When everyone involved knows the potential risks and the mitigation plan, there’s no confusion if and when something goes wrong.  

1. Identify environmental risks 

Environmental risks are any threats associated with your destination that can impact your employees and/or their travel plans. People often focus on the potential for major events like natural disasters or terrorist attacks, but it’s far more likely that your team will run into minor disruptions, like car accidents or pick-pocketing. Make sure you cross the following off your travel risk assessment checklist: 

Illness and injury 

Increased risk of illness or disease (Ex: malaria in some countries) 

Vaccinations or medication required before travel   

Healthcare availability at the destination: how do travelers get treatment for injuries or illness?   

Natural disasters and adverse weather 

Does the destination have a high number of natural disasters or extreme weather?   

Some weather events are more common at certain times of the year (Ex: bushfires in Australia during summer, tornado season in parts of the US)   

Transportation 

Travel restrictions in the area    

Rules around foreign licenses for hire cars   

Which side of the road must you drive on?   

Any increased travel risks (Ex: poor quality roads, dangerous local traffic, extreme weather) 

Crime and civil unrest 

What’s the political situation at your destination? Could it change quickly?   

Does your country’s embassy recommend travel to the destination?   

Crime rates  

Third-party contractors and providers    

Reliability and safety of third-party contractors (Ex: will hired drivers show up on time and drive safely?)   

Accommodation security 

Internet access and cybersecurity   

Availability and reliability of internet access, particularly if employees will be visiting remote areas   

Cybersecurity and the risk of security breaches while working remotely   

2. Consider risks to the individual 

Individual risks, on the other hand, are those directly related to the travelers themselves. Get employees to fill in a risk assessment form well before they travel, so you can most accurately assess their individual risk levels. While you don’t want to intrude on your employees’ privacy, it is important to be aware of any threats that could come up during travel, including:   

Does the employee feel healthy enough to travel?   

Do they have health conditions or disabilities that could require accommodation during the trip (Ex: a chronic health condition that requires frequent breaks or mobility issues that necessitate a car service or taxi rather than a ride-sharing service)?   

How are gender roles enforced in society? (Ex: Certain behaviors or customs that are considered normal for women in most Western societies are not tolerated or may even be considered illegal in others) 

Female corporate travelers are at higher risk of sexual assault and theft of personal belongings 

Are same-sex relationships criminalized at this destination? 

Other factors to consider: race, religion, and ethnicity 

Does the traveling employee have a driver’s license?  

Will they be able to drive a hire car after an overnight flight?  

Other personal limitations and preferences  

Food and water safety 

Allergies could make it difficult to find suitable food in certain countries, requiring a plan in case of a reaction (Ex: person with a peanut allergy traveling in South East Asia)  

Is the tap water potable? 

3. Evaluate the risks and create a mitigation plan 

Now that you know the risks, you need to determine if travel is worth the risk. And if so, what’s the plan for mitigating said risk? This is where a risk assessment matrix may be of use. 

Business travel risk assessment example:  

When managing risk you’re looking at two main factors: probability and severity . 

At one end of scale is something very severe, like a violent political revolution. Even if this only falls under low likelihood, its potential impact is too dangerous to take a chance on since neither traveler nor travel manager can mitigate the risk effectively. However, at the other end of the spectrum, you have something like the stomach flu. This is always a probable risk, but one that can easily be treated with minimal effort. 

4. Communicate with your travelers 

Your travelers need to go on business trips willingly and with eyes wide open. 

Prior to any travel, your employees should be fully aware and conversant with the environment they will be visiting as well as the risks associated with it. This information can be as basic as maps for the areas they will be visiting, to advice on actions to take during a mugging. 

But communication doesn’t stop at a pre-trip brief – it’s an ongoing conversation throughout the entire travel management process. Ensure your travelers know how to access support teams and other important resources that could assist them during a crisis. It also might be worth investing in real-time alerts so you and your travelers don’t get blindsided by sudden changes. 

5. Review and update as needed 

The only perfect travel risk management policy is a dynamic one.  

What has consistently worked well in the past may not necessarily yield the same results tomorrow. After each journey, take time to reflect on the experience: identify what worked seamlessly, and pinpoint areas that could be improved. Could incidents have been prevented? Could responses be more efficient? By asking these questions, you lay the foundation for proactive preparation. 

And in the ever-changing landscape of business travel, adaptability is the key to ensuring your policies remain as effective as possible. 

No risky business here 

With the FCM Platform, you can empower your travel risk management with cutting-edge safety and risk features that simplify the assessment process. Our platform is designed to provide real-time insights, dynamic policy adjustments, and a comprehensive view of potential travel risks – all in one place.  

We work with leading third-party risk management providers, like Crisis24 and SHERPA, to alleviate the burden of managing risks on a grand scale, especially for multinational corporations. Together, we work tirelessly to ensure your travelers feel secure and supported, no matter where their business takes them. 

Plus, our dedicated staff are available around the clock to provide support in any and every situation. 

Want business travel that’s safe, informed, and efficient? Let’s talk. 

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How to manage risks in tourism?

Understanding how to manage risks in tourism is vital for tour operators. A crisis often occurs when it is least expected, so it is important to have a Risk Management Plan in place that establishes the steps to be taken in the case of a crisis. The development of the plan should follow a clear process, to ensure that all tourism stakeholders know what it involves. During the crisis, Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery are considered to be an important four-step process to successfully manage a crisis.

Contents of this page

• What is risk management?
• Before a crisis: Have a Risk Management Process in place
• During the crisis: Follow these four steps

1. What is risk management?

Risk management is a planned process through which organisations manage active crises. A crisis is defined as a time of difficulty or danger and is usually a time when difficult or challenging decisions must be made. With a plan in place that outlines the process of managing a crisis, organisations can adapt more easily to deal with a crisis.

The tourism industry operates in a dynamic environment that involves many interconnected sectors. As a result, it is constantly evolving and is particularly vulnerable to unexpected crises. Crises come in many forms, including health threats like the 2020 global coronavirus pandemic, natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, political unrest and terrorist attacks. Such risks and crises pose significant threats to the tourism industry, destinations and tour operators working in the sector. In recent years, there have been several major crises, including the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka in 2019, and widespread political unrest in Ethiopia during the same year, both of which had a major impact on the tourism industry.

Crises can have a long-term negative impact on a destination both in terms of the destination’s image and its visitor numbers. Planning for and understanding how to manage risk when a crisis occurs and deal with the issues that arise from unforeseen events are key to mitigating the negative effects of a crisis on your tourism business.

Nevertheless, there is reason to be optimistic. Past events have shown that the tourism industry is resilient, and there is ample evidence that shows tourists are keen to resume travel to affected areas once the disaster has passed. Destinations and operators that have prepared well and implemented the best strategies to manage the crisis will be best positioned to survive the crisis and welcome visitors again as quickly as possible.

Crisis Example 1: Nepal earthquake response

Following the earthquake in Nepal in 2015 , when 9,000 people lost their lives and more than 800 monuments were damaged, the nation’s image suffered from negative international reporting and tourist arrivals fell by more than one-third in the year, from 790,000 in 2014 to 539,000 in 2015.

However, the Nepal Tourism Recovery action group quickly launched the I AM IN NEPAL NOW #NepalNOW #stillsmiling social media campaign to counter the vast numbers of negative stories circulating on the Internet. The campaign encouraged international visitors to Nepal to post images of themselves holding placards featuring the slogan.

The campaign and positive stories on the accompanying website, nepalNOW , generated a significant amount of positive coverage and, alongside rebuilding, rebranding and additional communications such as the infographic displayed below, helped to stimulate tourism growth. By the end of 2018, tourist arrivals had exceeded 1 million for the first time, with the country welcoming 1.2 million arrivals.

Figure 1: Support to Build Nepal by Visiting Nepal

Source: Nepal Tourism Board

2. Before a crisis: Have a Risk Management Process in place

Preparing for an unforeseen crisis is an essential element of business planning, and you should not wait for a crisis to happen to put a plan in place, so you are prepared if a crisis does happen.

Preparing for risk or crisis situations is commonly referred to as a Risk Management Process . A Risk Management Process aims to reduce the uncertainties of actions taken during a crisis. It is important to have this is place in advance, so that your organisation is well prepared for unexpected events that may happen in future. A thorough inventory and analysis of possible risk scenarios is essential, so that you fully understand the risks to your tourism business. Looking ahead and being well prepared may help to minimise losses and put you in a great position to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise.

Emergency Management Australia’s chart provides a useful guide to the flow of the Risk Management Process, which you can adapt for your own purposes. Each step is underpinned by continuous communication and monitoring; they are fully explored below.

Figure 2: Risk Management Process

Source: Emergency Management Australia

Establish the context

This step refers to establishing the policies, systems, procedures and relationships with stakeholders that are pertinent to your organisation, which requires you to have a solid understanding of your own business in areas including key business activities, economic constraints, and organisational strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Conducting a SWOT analysis of your business is a useful business tool, and the specific focus on ‘threats’ will help to outline the potential problems the Risk Management Process might have to address.

Figure 3: Structure of a SWOT Analysis

Source: Sally Davis Berry ( www.tourismproacademy.com )

This helpful blog, Have you done a SWOT analysis for your tourism business , outlines the tasks required during each step of the SWOT and is aimed at tourism businesses.

• Identify your key stakeholders and find out what they understand by ‘risk’. Establishing what their concerns are and understanding their perception of risk within your destination is critical.
• Review your key buyer markets to assess whether you should take steps to diversify to new international or domestic customers that are less sensitive to particular crises.
• Make sure you are aware what the national legislation is for disaster/emergency management in your country. This is usually available on your government’s website.

Identify the risks

No two crises are the same, and some destinations will be more susceptible to particular crises than others. You should carry out a risk analysis, drawing up a list of crises that might happen based on those that have occurred in your region/country in the past and may happen again. Include any events that could be a possibility, based on your own knowledge of your destination and other factors.

Examples include:

• Natural disasters – these include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and floods, hurricanes and other extreme weather disasters. The Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, which devastated numerous coastal communities in Asia and killed more than 230,000 people, and Hurricane Maria , which devasted several islands in the Caribbean in 2017, are two examples of natural disasters.
• Political issues – political unrest is common in developing countries, and they often have an impact on tourism. Ethiopia and Nicaragua both experienced political unrest in 2019, which caused other countries to issue travel advisories to their nationals that, in these examples, are still active.
• Terrorism – some countries/regions suffer more from terrorist attacks than others. Notable examples include bombings in Sri Lanka and Thailand that deliberately targeted tourists. The 2019 Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka killed more than 250 people. Thailand has suffered from several terrorist attacks targeted at tourists, including one at a shrine in central Bangkok , which resulted in the deaths of 20 people.
• Health-related incidents – pandemics and epidemics are the most likely crises. Along with COVID-19, the Ebola epidemic between 2014 and 2016 , which affected several West African countries, is a major example in this category. The Ebola epidemic impacted tourism elsewhere in Africa, in countries many thousands of miles away, owing to the misconception that ‘Ebola is in Africa, so Africa has Ebola’. In 2014, the Kenya Tourism Federation reported that tourism arrivals had fallen by an estimated 15-20%, and in Tanzania, hotel bookings were reported to have dropped by up to 40%.
• Economic crises – financial crises often have a significant effect on the tourism industry, such as the Global Economic Crisis in 2008/9, which lead to a 4% drop in international tourist arrivals. However, by 2010, tourism had rebounded strongly. The impact of COVID-19 is likely to lead to a further global economic crisis.
• Check historical records to identify any crisis that has happened in your area. The National Archives in your country may be a good start, or you could visit a library. Alternatively, you can do an online search on the Internet using phrases like, ‘recent crisis in ….’ Or ‘latest earthquake in….’ and so on.
• Consult experts to build your knowledge of how a particular crisis affected your destination. This should include different elements of who and what was affected by the crisis, such as the environment, infrastructure, facilities and the economy.
• Build a scenario around “What if it happened here/now?”. Involve and discuss this with your staff to check all possible scenarios and develop alternative solutions. Read this article, How to compose crisis scenarios , to help you build crisis scenarios.

Keep up to date with Covid-19

As a new phenomenon, COVID-19 paralysed the global economy on an unprecedented scale in early 2020. No one knows what the long-term implications of COVID-19 will be, but it is widely accepted that its impact will be severe across many industries, including tourism. You should keep up to date with the latest information about the pandemic and the likely impact on tourism.

• The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) regularly posts updates on the global situation on its website, including articles such as Tourism and COVID-19 and an Impact Assessment of the COVID-19 Outbreak on International Tourism . These articles are regularly updated, so you can bookmark them for easy reference.
• The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has created different information hubs for members, governments and travellers to deliver relevant information.
• The Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) regularly updates its comprehensive information and advice for the tourism industry.
• The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has published resources for airlines and other travel professionals.
• The European Travel Commission (ETC) is a good source of information pertaining to the European market.
• The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) dashboard will keep you up to date with the current situation as it unfolds.
• Identify the risks of COVID-19 in your destination. Conduct your own research about the impact and current situation. The government, Ministry of Tourism, national tourist board and any tourism associations that exist in your country are good places to gather information.

Analyse and evaluate risks

Analysing risks involves determining the likelihood of a crisis occurring and their possible consequences, from insignificant up to catastrophic. Understanding which possible crisis would have the most negative impact will enable you to decide on the priority course of action. For each risk you identify, you can create a matrix that assesses and rates the likelihood of the event happening and the possible consequences, as shown the example below.

Figure 4: Risk Rating Matrix

Source: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, International Centre for Sustainable Tourism

Another method to assess the likelihood of risks and their possible consequences is to assign a scores, such as the example below.

Figure 5: Risk Assessment Matrix by Numerical Score

Source: Hastam

Matrix templates can be downloaded from the Internet from various sources, including i-Sight . When assigning scores, you should consider the influence of risks at different levels – Macro being at a global level, where you will have no influence; Meso, at which your influence will be limited; and Micro crises, which are more likely to require action within your business.

Following analysis, evaluating risks focuses on gauging the ability to deal with the risk, whether it can be addressed/treated under current capabilities and what needs to be done.

Treat risks

There are a number of accepted strategies that you can adopt to manage risk:

• Avoid the risk – which involves not proceeding with an activity likely to be risky. For instance, if a tour operates in an area prone to flooding or landslides at a particular time of year, the tour could be automatically discontinued at this time, or could be re-routed.
• Reduce the risk – if a risk cannot be eliminated completely, steps should be taken to reduce the risk by implementing initiatives such as suitable safety standards, providing suitable equipment, ensuring buildings are constructed to withstand earthquakes, and implementing adequate health and safety procedures.
• Transfer the risk – usually to a third party such as an insurance company. At the very minimum, your business should have public liability and professional liability cover. European tour operators generally require their suppliers to have adequate liability insurance in place before they will do business with you. See the tip below for more information.
• Retain the risk – this typically refers to accepting that minor risks do happen infrequently in the course of business and being able to manage them in the most appropriate way.

Managing risk is a crucial factor for adventure tourism operators, as they must ensure the safety of their customers, who may participate in high-risk activities. In addition to extensive liability insurance cover, many European tour operators comply with international adventure tourism standards to provide their travellers with reassurance. The two most common standards on the market are the International Organisation for Standardisation’s (ISO) international standard for adventure management, ISO 21101:2014 , and the British Standard for Adventure Tourism, BS8848:2014 .

• To find out more about European buyers’ requirements, download the CBI study, What are the requirements for tourism services in the European market .
• Investigate what level of insurance cover you currently have for your business. Check the level of cover in the event of a crisis. Premiums tend to increase the more cover you have, so this is something you will have to judge on the basis of the potential risks you have identified in your destination. Some insurance companies offer support in creating crisis management plans and undertaking risk assessments, such as SATIB , which provides tour operator insurance throughout southern Africa.
• Read more about managing risk in the European adventure tourism market in the CBI study, Entering the European market for Adventure Tourism .
• Consider complying with one or both of the standards indicated to reassure your European buyers.

Communicate and Consult

Being visible and keeping in touch with your stakeholders is one of the most important factors of risk management, and it must be done on a continuous basis in all stages, before, during and after a crisis. Stakeholders include staff, customers and suppliers and key messages to all of them pertaining to risk must be:

• Honest – do not make statements that you do not know to be true or make promises you cannot keep.
• Factual – state the facts as you know them and do not embellish. If you are too positive, people may not believe you.
• Reliable – keep in touch on a regular basis, even if it is just to say ‘there is no news yet’. People like to know that you are continuously monitoring the situation.
• Reassuring – keep the tone of your communication measured and calm and try not to sound flustered or panicked. Avoid the use of inflammatory words such as ‘catastrophe’ or ‘devastating’ and if you do use them, make sure they are used in the right context.
• Consult the UNWTO’s Toolbox for Crisis Communications in Tourism for checklists and best practices.
• You can also read ASEAN’s Tourism Crisis Communications Manual for more advice.

Know who your stakeholders are

Draw up a list of your stakeholders to get a clear overview, so you can ensure they are included in all correspondence you issue. Consider the following groups of stakeholders when drawing up your list:

• Government agencies – Ministry of Tourism, Customs, Immigration, Foreign Affairs, Health Agencies, Legal, Ministry of Transport, Environmental Agencies, Security Agencies, Disaster Management
• Tourist Boards – national and local visitor centres
• Airlines and transport organisations
• Hotels and other accommodation associations
• Tour operator associations and travel agencies
• Tourism associations

Consider joining national or international tourism associations, as they may be able to offer help and advice during crises. Examples include the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) , the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) , Latin America Travel Association (LATA) , and the African Travel & Tourism Association (ATTA) .

Use your website and social media to keep in touch

Your website is often the first place that stakeholders will visit to get information. You should revisit your website regularly and publish the most recent information about the impact a crisis is having on your destination/region. You can also use your social media channels to post updates and communicate directly with your customers.

It is really important to date your website communications, so that users can be sure they are receiving the most up-to-date information. If you are updating a current release, make sure you include the word ‘Updated’ at the top of the release alongside the new date.

Monitor and review

Crises are often fast-moving; situations tend to be highly changeable and can be volatile. This means that current processes, plans or procedures that you have in place to deal with a crisis should be regularly reviewed and updated. Your plan should be flexible and dynamic, so that you can adapt easily to the changing situation when a crisis happens. To do this, you should review your organisation’s plan regularly, at least annually, during periods when there is no risk.

Training and testing

Once you have formulated your Risk Management Plan, you must train your staff and test the plan. During a crisis, staff may need to adopt different roles than the ones they are familiar with, which could be stressful. Make sure to be clear about what you expect from them, to ensure that if the plan needs to be activated, they are clear about what they will be doing. Investigate what training courses in risk management might be available in your destination or elsewhere, such as ATTA’s Safety and Risk Management for Adventure Travel Tour Operators .

You should ensure that your plan is ready to go when required and has undergone scenario testing in advance, so that any weaknesses are exposed and can be addressed. Keep updating and reviewing your plan as required.

• To help you develop your plan, you can find out more about the Risk Management Process by consulting a variety of sources. 5 Steps to Any Effective Risk Management Process and The 5 Step Risk Management Process (Updated for 2018) offer a broad outline of the process and are a good place to start.
• Download the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) International Centre for Sustainable Tourism guide, Tourism Risk Management – An Authoritative Guide to Managing Crises in Tourism for more detailed advice. While it is from 2006, this authoritative and detailed guide is specifically aimed at supporting destinations and tour operators in establishing their own risk management strategies, and is widely regarded as an important resource for tour operators.
• Do not forget to review the accompanying presentation, Tourism Risk Management , adapted from Emergency Management Australia’s Risk management process, and training programme, How to Develop a Risk Management Strategy for a Tourism Destination , which provides good complementary information.

Keep abreast of crises that may be happening elsewhere, so that you can learn from others’ experiences. Refer to sources including tourist boards, national newspapers and the foreign affairs departments of

Crisis Example 2: The Easter Day Bombings in Sri Lanka, 2019

The 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka saw a 70% fall in tourist arrivals during the following weeks. However, the crisis also sparked a wave of interest on the Internet and the phrase ‘where is Sri Lanka’ become a top trending search term for Google. Within a month of the crisis, the government began working with a team of crisis management experts. Three agencies were merged to become Sri Lanka Tourism, which developed a robust marketing strategy to help put Sri Lanka back onto the global travel map. Source markets were analysed and prioritised while thousands of attractions were identified and promoted to reflect the country’s diversity. As a direct result of measures taken following the crisis, and until the COVID-19 crisis hit, Sri Lanka was seeing a slow return of tourists, and it was named a top country to visit in 2019 by top travel guide Lonely Planet. As a result, it is clear that Sri Lanka is currently in the Recovery step of the Risk Management Cycle.

This interesting article by CNN Travel, The second coming of a paradise island: How Sri Lanka bounced back from crisis , highlights the plight of many other destinations that have suffered from terrorist attacks including Tunisia, Bali and Egypt, and discusses the resilience of tourism.

3. During the crisis: Follow these four steps

Once a company is in the middle of a crisis, the first thing to do is to understand the situation as best you can and understand the impact it can have on your organisation. This is a continual process as one of the characteristics of a crisis is that it’s always changing, and the effects on your business will also constantly shift.

The current COVID-19 crisis is an example of a global crisis that has deeply affected the economies of countries as a result of businesses coming to a halt all around the world. For your industry, this includes job loss, revenue depletion, lack of business and insecurity regarding the future.

Figure 6: Understanding the Situation and Putting it into Perspective

Compare that with an earthquake or a mudslide or a tsunami, which tend to be localised events and do not affect the rest of the world. While the immediate effect to your business might be similar to that of a crisis of global proportions, the way you strategise to react to it will be drastically different.

There are four main steps or stages you go through during a crisis. This four-step interrelated process is one of the easiest to understand and clearest to follow:

• Mitigation – immediate actions just as the crisis hits, to save your business.
• Preparedness – to prepare your organisation to face the current crisis and focus on working on the next two steps.
• Response – to respond to the crisis and to utilise all the available resources to tackle and implement an effective response
• Recovery – The road to recovery to prepare and work on the strategies to get back to normal and beyond.

Figure 7: Tourism Crisis Management Process

IMPORTANT: Over and above these four stages is the crucial element of communication, which keeps shifting as we move from step to step and depends on which audience we are addressing - teams, suppliers, stakeholders, industry or the market.

Let's now analyse each step in more depth.

1. Mitigation

Mitigation refers to the initial actions that the company that is directly in the face of the crisis or emergency needs to carry out. These are the first steps that need to be taken to protect the ones in the immediate line of fire – teams, customers, suppliers, industry partners and finances.

Use this checklist (click here to open a print version PDF ) to help make an immediate plan:

• All members of the team accounted for and out of danger of potential loss of life.
• All team members informed and in good mental health.
• All customers in country accounted for, and out of danger.
• All customers in country informed of the situation, and immediate mitigation strategies discussed so they fully understand what is relevant to them (repatriation, rescue, etc).
• All customers due to arrive in the country informed, and situation explained to them.
• All suppliers accounted for and out of danger.
• All suppliers informed and communicated with and some immediate mitigation strategies agreed.

Industry Partners

• Domestic industry partners accounted for and communicated with.
• International industry partners informed about the situation.
• A quick assessment made of current available resources, liabilities and debts.
• Review of current cancellation policies and compensation mechanisms in light of the current crisis. Any modifications to be made immediately.

Communication

• Outward facing communications changed immediately to reflect the current status, on social media channels and your website. Consider adapting your email signatures to include a statement that reflects the current situation.
• All suppliers contacted to inform them of the current scenario and its implications.
• All industry partners contacted to inform them of the current scenario and its implications.
• Communication with teams should be honest, informative and encouraging team spirit.
• Communication with suppliers should be helpful with a key message, “we are together in this crisis”, how can we help, how can we support.
• Communication with communities and government should be helpful and collaborative.

Leadership Style

• At the mitigation stage of crisis management, the leaders should show empathy and concern but at the same time be informational and strong, building on trust that subsequently develops.
• To learn how others are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, see how Arival organised a conference to help operators contend with the crisis, Contending with Crisis: What Operators can do to get through it now .

2. Preparedness

The mitigation stage of the crisis management could be a very short process or a long, drawn-out process, depending on the immediate effect of the crisis on your business. At the same time, the process to start preparing the business for this particular crisis can be key to the next stages of Response and Recovery. There are several key things to focus on at this stage.

Emergency Response Plan

There are two parts to the Emergency Response Plan. These do not have to be huge documents, but they should be flexible documents that can be referred to quickly and are easy to update:

• A Response Plan – that looks at the short-term, medium-term and long-term strategies to overcome the crisis.
• A Recovery Plan – that looks at how the business re-starts itself once recovery has started.

The strategies in these documents should cover financial management, personnel management, office management, marketing, and communication strategies that address the issues mentioned below. You should plan to refer back to these plans regularly as you move through the Preparedness step and also during the two following steps of Response and Recovery.

Financial health of the company

In every crisis, there is a period of staying put and waiting for the crisis to be over. The capacity to be able to get over this period depends on how financially secure the business is. This means how much money the organisation has at the point the crisis hits and how frugal can it be following the crisis. Do not interpret financial frugality to mean total self-interest – businesses should never forget that they are a part of an ecosystem and that working together within that ecosystem is important, particularly during difficult times.

• Do a quick Cash Flow Analysis to see what the financial status is of the company, keeping in mind future recurring payments like salaries and rent.
• Review the cancellations and refunds policy to see if it meets the requirements of the changed scenarios presented by the crisis. If you make any changes, make sure you update the Terms & Conditions on your website and advise on social media.
• Do multiple scenarios of the Cash Flow Analysis to help understand how it will play out if the crisis lasts a short time or a long time. Look at all scenarios from the best-case scenarios all the way to the worst-case scenarios, and calculate how long the company can survive, and where the pressures on your cash are. This will offer a clear idea of how to mitigate and respond to these financial pressures.
• Check out this article on Brixx.com on how best to use the Cash Flow Analysis in the short term, medium term and the long term.

The Leader at this stage is decisive, commanding, authoritative, transparent and strategic. This will ensure that things get done, and preparation is key to success in a crisis.

Team Spirit

One of the first things to diminish during a crisis is team spirit. Not being able to work together and the added social stress factors that emerge during a crisis can cause the team to splinter and break. It is important to maintain team spirit, or important work will not progress at all.

• Set regular team meetings, even if they are virtual. Concentrate on openness during the meeting and turn the meetings into safe spaces to express concerns and look for support. You should always strive to be understanding and supportive during these meetings.
• Empower small teams within the workforce to focus on specific responses, such as developing marketing material, communications, or the financial response.
• Make reporting back to the whole team essential and keep communications transparent.
• Lead the communications in the team and concentrate on keeping spirits high.
• Check out the LOVES method of communication . Developed by the Transformational Tourism Council , the LOVES method of communication creates safe spaces where the members can talk, provide a recent Lift update , talk about Opportunities or Obstacles , share small Victories they have had, express what they are Excited about, and ask for Support (if needed).

Working from home

One of the most common preparatory mechanisms that is required is to realign the teams to working from home. Since you may not be able to have regular meetings face to face, you need a combination of filing, communication and project managements tools. There are many out there, but here is a quick list to explore:

• Microsoft Teams – part of Office 365
• Slack – a communication tool between teams with the possibility of multiple integrations of performance enhancing applications.
• Trello – project planning tool for teams to collaborate on.
• Google Drive – for all integrations, cloud, mail, communication, hangouts for group video calls.
• ZOOM Conferencing – for video conferencing amongst teams.
• Skype Conferencing – part of Microsoft, Skype provides video conferencing for groups.
• WebEx – an open source communications tool

Set up an alternative method of communicating with your team and make sure your staff are aware and comfortable working this way. Provide training and keep them up to date with changes to your communication methods, to avoid any communications problems during a crisis.

Technological Readiness

A crisis may require the organisation to adapt to new technology immediately. A quick assessment of the technological readiness of the company can be an important check.

To see how ready you are, ask yourself:

• Can everyone be communicated with even if they cannot come to the office?
• Can you access your server files remotely?
• Does everyone in the team have the communication tools to keep in touch and are they trained to use them?

Stakeholder Analysis

To realign your business, it's critical that you do a quick stakeholder analysis, making sure that no one is left out. The confidence of these stakeholders in your business is critical to your success once the crisis is over. Make sure that you are in constant touch with them.

Communication Plan

Communication is an ongoing process during the entire process of crisis management. However, at this stage, you should work on a communication plan, so that it can be used in the upcoming stages of Response and Recovery. Communications you send to different audiences and the channels you use have very specific purposes. You should define and fine-tune your communications processes on an ongoing basis. Do not over-communicate, and remain factual and to the point. Do not create expectations without a solid foundation for doing so. For examples of communication plans , take a look at the website of Demand Metric.

Develop communication templates to cover communications to suppliers, teams, agents and international partners and customers, each aligned to what you would want to tell them at this specific point in time. Use the experience gained during each communication stage to develop strategies and plans at later stages.

3. Response

The majority of crisis management lies in the response to the crisis. All the preparation you have already done to protect the company and its assets will help you in the response stage. As you are responding to the particular crisis, remember that the crisis has not disappeared and you may still have to mitigate and re-align your preparations. Make sure that you have time for that, as the response depends on it.

Utilising Down Time

A crisis usually ends up creating downtime for teams. Keeping the teams busy not only helps keep up team spirit by not concentrating too much on the crisis or getting stressed out, it also gives them a sense of achievement, which is a great tool to relieve stress. For the company, it justifies continuing to pay a salary and manages to get things done that there was never enough time to complete in the past.

Choose work that will improve the company’s position in future. Refine your processes, fine-tune communication mechanisms and learn new skills. Make sure that you realise that downtime means that the same amount of work might not be achieved as during usual times.

Examples of work to be done during downtime include:

• Database Management – re-assess the online filing system and re-do it on google drive.
• Check that you are GDPR compliant. Consult the CBI study, What requirements must tourism services comply with to be allowed on the European market for more information about complying with GDPR.
• Regular communication with partners, clients, agents, suppliers, and other stakeholders of the business.
• Check your offerings online – website, agents, Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and refine them.
• Use online communication tools and keep updating statuses.
• Review, assess, categorise and manage all your promotional materials, including photos, videos, other images, stories and customer reviews in a searchable database. Excel spreadsheets offer a good way to keep a written directory of what you have.
• Update your website regularly.
• Ask your team to make a list of things to do during the downtime and help them in refining the list and choosing the task list. This will give them a sense of ownership.

Fine tune market intelligence

A crisis has a way of levelling the playing field. How well you come out of it depends on how quick you are to understand the situation and how quickly you can adapt to the new normal. The most important thing to do is to ensure that you, as a business owner or manager, remain well-informed and use your expertise to react at the right time when the crisis begins to ease and there is improved access to your markets once more.

Consider developing your market intelligence gathering tools as follows:

• Look into online webinars and trainings that may suit your organisation and try a few out to find the ones that are the most suitable. Assign specific members of the team to learn from these.
• Assign members of the team to constantly learn from online discussions.
• Hold regular intelligence meetings to share information between the whole team.
• Check the government travel advisories of your source markets. Advisories will have an impact on personal decisions to travel, European tour operators cancelling trips and also on the ability to obtain travel insurance.
• Make sure you are aware of any restrictions that your government may have placed on inbound visitors.
• Create an online folder that everyone has access to, to store all the folders.
• Personally commit to learn more and more about the present crisis and its impacts. Keep the team informed on what you learn. This also ensures that the whole team remains similarly informed about the crisis.
• Identify different listening posts for things such as webinars, online trainings, status updates, news and social media.
• Hold regular meetings and use online storage tools to acquire market intelligence.

Be Adaptable and Flexible

Any sort of pressure on the organisation offers a chance to assess how easily an organisation is able to adapt or respond to changing market scenarios, by diversifying its offer. A good example during the COVID-19 crisis is the opening of a huge market for virtual tours, which is a transition many tour companies can make, such as this virtual tour of Machu Picchu in Peru. Every crisis opens up opportunities for new businesses, and the companies that can be most flexible and adaptable are those that will benefit the most. Many companies suffer over time when they just rely on well-established systems. Flexibility is a powerful tool for companies responding to a crisis.

• List potential changes that could be made considering how the market is moving. Prioritise a few and try them. For the ones that are successful, carry it into the response stage, and if the markets allow it, continue this into the recovery stage.

Financial Response

One of the biggest concerns during a crisis is a company’s finances. If business comes to a standstill, this can have a major detrimental effect on cash flows and the overall financial health of the company, depending on how long it takes to get out of the crisis. You must continually assess your organisation’s finances.

Importantly, one of your biggest recurring costs will be salaries, and with a smaller workload during a crisis, a first thought might be to cut staffing. Remember that your teams are also hurting during the crisis, and once recovery starts, you will need strong, motivated teams to move the business forward.

• Re-examine the cash flow scenarios you created during the preparedness stage and keep fine-tuning them.
• Review your costs and see where some savings can be made, for example, rent, leases, monthly bills.
• Talk to all suppliers to see if any renegotiation is possible, keeping in mind that they are also hurting, so be flexible and try to come out of this together, in the long term it is very important to have a healthy industry.
• If you need make your staff redundant, keep communicating with your teams, so they are fully aware of the situation and redundancies don’t come as a major surprise.

At the response stage, the leadership style must be decisive, rational, informative and clear. The team will be confused, so the leader must be very clear. At the same time, the leader has to allow for innovation and be open to ideas.

Preparing for Recovery

Refining the Emergency Response Plan that you began during the Preparedness step continues to be one of the most important tasks during the Response phase. You should continue to refine it as time passes and the crisis situation evolves. A small team within the company should be responsible for keeping this plan updated. It should include all the work done during the Response phase.

Communication Style

How a company communicates with its stakeholders creates a lasting impression for future recovery. Most importantly, communication at this stage should be informative, professional and not over-selling. The main intent is to stay in contact, and keep information flowing.

• Consult reliable sources that offer the most up-to-date information about the crisis.
• Keep in touch with all your stakeholders with the most current information. Make sure to date all your communications to keep them relevant.
• Always respond to any queries promptly and honestly. Remember never to make promises that you know you cannot keep.
• Do not market or try to sell any tourism products now. This is the time to show professionalism and build trust.
• See how NepalNOW has been responding to the current Covid-19 crisis using a variety of blogs and stories.

4. Recovery

It is difficult to know when the Response phase becomes the Recovery phase. However, it is clear that, while you are on the road to Recovery, you should to continue to follow the steps you established in the Emergency Response Plan. As in the previous steps, you should be continuously refining and updating the plan, based on the current situation. Flexibility during the Recovery phase continues to be important. Your organisation may look different following all the changes you may have made as a result of the crisis, and your markets may also have changed.

There are several points to note as you progress through the Recovery step:

• The markets may have changed and there may be other changes in how tourism processes function. For example: during the COVID-19 crisis, many countries imposed additional health checks on incoming visitors. You might have to adapt your company processes to this ‘new normal’.
• Your team might have changed: it may have decreased or increased in size, or you may need to carry out more teambuilding to make things work.
• Changes in the markets could mean investments in technology and training, implementing new ways to communicate, or even refocussing on new markets, such as by offering lower cost packages to the domestic market while you wait for your international clients to return.
• Being flexible and adaptable will help at this stage, as the markets will not have stabilised. Being able to respond quickly and implement necessary changes will ensure that you are able to benefit from the situation as much as possible.
• Your stakeholder base might have changed, so developing new partners might be essential. For example, some of your suppliers may have gone out of business, and you will need to find new ones.
• Keep your Emergency Response Plan somewhere you can easily find it. It should be considered a crucial part of your business planning and one that can be used again in future crisis situations.

It can take a long time to recover following a crisis, and it will take a lot of hard work, determination and dedication to put your business back on track. Using the example of COVID-19, this infographic and blog by market research organisation PhocusWire offers an interesting seven-stage process to the ‘new normal’ , as the infographic below highlights. It clearly shows that the Recovery process is likely to be the longest of all the steps, but its success is dependent on the work undertaken at each of the previous steps: Mitigation, Preparedness and Response.

Figure 8: Covid-19 – Seven Stages to the New Normal

Crisis Example 3: Effective Communication during a Crisis – Inspired by Iceland

A good example of an effective communication campaign around a short-term crisis was the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland in April 2010. The eruption grounded more than 100,000 flights and disrupted travel plans for several weeks throughout northern Europe. In just three weeks, tourist arrivals to Iceland fell by 30% and continued to decline in May. Following a thorough risk assessment, tourism stakeholders predicted a tourism decline of 22% over the year and a shortfall of revenue of £180 million.

Nevertheless, the Icelandic government identified an opportunity to address these significant challenges while taking the steps of preparedness and response. First, the government consolidated the Trade Council of Iceland, Invest in Iceland and the Icelandic Tourist Board under one tourism organisation, Promote Iceland, to enable close collaboration.

The newly created tourism board launched a campaign entitled ‘Inspired by Iceland’ , aiming to depict Iceland’s beauty, highlight the friendliness of the people and strongly promote that Iceland was ‘open for business’. The campaign also involved Icelandic nationals, encouraging the whole population to post positive messages, images and videos about their homeland.

The campaign was very successful. Across social and digital media, more than 2 million stories were seen and sent, and during July and August 2010, live webcam footage of Iceland generated 60 million views. Of all these posts, 80% demonstrated positive attitudes towards the country. As a result, tourism demand was boosted significantly, and between May and the end of the year, tourist arrivals exceeded revised forecasts by 27%. This growth continued in the following year, with arrivals growing by 15.7%, and the Recovery has continued positively ever since.

Figure 9: Inspired by Iceland’ Social Media Campaign

Source: Promote Iceland

This study was carried out on behalf of CBI by Acorn Tourism Consulting Limited and Social Tours .

Please review our market information disclaimer .

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You all deal with risk in your business every day, otherwise you would never take chances. However, having a risk management plan for an unforeseen crisis is essential for your business survival chances. Think about the “what if” scenarios – what could happen both in your destination and in others and what would you do to make sure that clients or guests have a better transition period. Over the last 30 years or so, there have been many “events” from natural disasters, war, terrorism and medical impacts and of course the current global coronavirus pandemic. By having a risk management plan in place, you are able to react quicker, more effectively for the benefit of both your business and more importantly your clients who are with you or due to travel. Clive Bishop, Blue Skies Consultancy Group

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Effect of Covid-19 pandemic on tourist travel risk and management perceptions

Roles Writing – original draft

Affiliation Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Business, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Pengkalan Chepa, Malaysia

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliation School of E-Commerce, Jiujiang University, Jujiang, Jiangxi, China

Roles Funding acquisition

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation School of Economics, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, Guangzhou, China

Roles Methodology

Affiliation School of Management, Jiujiang University, Jujiang, Jiangxi, China

• Muhammad Khalilur Rahman, 
• Md. Abu Issa Gazi, 
• Miraj Ahmed Bhuiyan, 
• Md. Atikur Rahaman

• Published: September 1, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486
• Reader Comments

This study aims to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions. Driven on the effect of the pandemic, we investigate tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions and its effect on society using a sample of 716 respondents. The data was collected through social media platforms using a representative sampling method and analyzed applying the PLS-SEM tool. The findings reveal that Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected travel risk and management perceptions. Travel risk and management perception had a significant association with risk management, service delivery, transportation patterns, distribution channels, avoidance of overpopulated destinations, and hygiene and safety. The results also identified the mediating effect of travel risk and management perceptions. The finding of this study contributes to tourism crises and provides future research insights in the travel and tourism sector and response to change tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions in the post-covid recovery period.

Citation: Rahman MK, Gazi MAI, Bhuiyan MA, Rahaman MA (2021) Effect of Covid-19 pandemic on tourist travel risk and management perceptions. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0256486. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486

Editor: Bing Xue, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, GERMANY

Received: April 5, 2021; Accepted: August 6, 2021; Published: September 1, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Rahman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and supporting information files.

Funding: This research was supported by the School of Economics, Guangdong University of Finance & Economics, 21 luntou Road, Guangzhou, China.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The world tourism industry is facing the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. Tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions are crucial matter in their decision to travel destinations during the ongoing uncertainty of Covid-19 epidemic. Tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions can influence their psychological behavior for travel to destinations [ 1 , 2 ] Tourists can view their travel risk and management issues differently due to the spread of the existing pandemic. Tourists will avoid visiting destinations if they consider it risky [ 3 ]. Tourists’ travel risk and management are associated with tourism destinations, which is multidimensional where the outcomes are uncertain due to the impact of Covid-19. Therefore, it is difficult to recognize the common risk and management dimensions for developing a theoretical foundation based on the tourists’ risk and management perceptions and incorporating their outcomes. However, due to having a crucial concept of travel risk during the Covid-19 pandemic, this study has paid attention to explore and evaluate the tourists travel risk and management perceptions associated with the tourism attractions.

The Covid-19 pandemic has ruined all the previous narratives on development. Lockdowns at the largest scale in human history have imposed by governments around the world to control the spread of the pandemic. The consequences of this pandemic could change many aspects of human life and business including tourism management as almost half of the global population adopted restrictions on movement at an unprecedented scale. The Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. Co stands for corona, Vi for a virus, and D for the disease. This disease refers to as 2019 novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV. The impact of the novel Covid-19 pandemic is expected to have antagonistic results on the tourism sector, and the economy worldwide [ 4 ]. The economic estimations are foreseeing diminished financial development and showing negative attitudes to residents from countries most intensely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic [ 5 ]. The Covid-19 pandemic started at Wuhan in China in December 2019 [ 6 , 7 ] and other countries in February 2020. It has various effects and countries around the world are looking for a sustainable development approach to mitigate its negative impact. The pandemic is calamitous for recovering the economy of every country, nonexistent the travel industry, and social angles including long-term health issues in those affected by the infection and losses the friends and family. The effect of Covid-19 has mental effects [ 8 ] and it appears to be essential to identify them appropriately and address these issues to directly control the spread of infection [ 6 ].

Societal wellbeing or safety measures through lockdowns can control the spreading of infections [ 5 ]. However, when such safety measures are excessively strict, they can have negative impacts on developing the tourism industry, interruption of economic development, and increase the unemployment rate. It is reported that the business world today is directly or indirectly impacted by different external factors such as financial, sociocultural, global, political, and technological [ 4 ]. The changes in these factors lead to a change in business performance in industry in the region-specific or worldwide. The world is aware of the Covid-19 pandemic and its social outcomes remain ambiguous [ 9 ]. Although China, the United States and other developed countries have produced vaccines and started vaccination, most of the developing countries are struggling for getting the vaccine for protection against the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic. There is a lack of healthcare safety and security in many countries regarding handling Covid-19 patients, lack of doctors, a lacuna of vaccine, and testing facility. Covid-19 is a global phenomenon, and it may appear soon as an established external factor in curricula on strategic management for business performance and emerging tourism marketing.

Other factors are mostly controllable by social frameworks, and individuals [ 4 ]. Pandemics are generally uncontrollable because they appear suddenly everywhere. The travel and tourism sector are particularly motivated by changes in external factors and given the idea of political and financial systems. The travel industry involves various sectors and contributes to these areas’ advancement and the global value of tourism management. The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism destination, tourists’ behavior, and their preference is irrespective of district or nationality. The earlier studies [ 9 , 10 ] have confined the connection between pandemic and tourism regarding risk. Few studies [ 11 ] analyzed the tourism restrictions on the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and explained how destinations decided to react to a pandemic. Travel and tourism are one of the largest industries all over the world [ 12 , 13 ], however, despite this industry, the hospitality and tourism industry is currently highly sensitive to significant shocks (e.g. Covid-19 pandemic). It is crucial to investigate how the tourism industry will recover from the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rapid transmission and high mortality rate of the Covid-19 pandemic lead to the scientific community monitoring its spread of infection [ 14 ]. The pandemic encourages the continuation of social quarantine and adverse financial effects. The clinicians and researchers have expressed their concerns about the negative effects of the Covid-19 epidemic on the health of people and behaviors [ 15 ]. Recently a few studies discussed Covid-19 from healthcare perspectives [ 5 , 8 ]. Some studies focus on the risk management of the Covid-19 pandemic [ 16 , 17 ]. Some researchers [ 18 ] focus on the travel and tourism crisis while others [ 10 ] proposed the necessary procedures that prevent potential biosecurity threats because of worldwide pandemic outbreaks. There is a study that [ 19 ] focused on the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on Chinese residents’ lifestyle and travel, which leads to enlightening long-term patterns of behavior and tourism destination. A few countries have made explicit strides in suspending their visa on arrival strategy and initiating strict travel bans to control the spread of the pandemic. Another research study [ 20 ] reported that the Covid-19 epidemic has carried economic collapse to Singapore, Bali, Barcelona, Rome, and other counties that were once tourists’ attractions. The effects of this outbreak on the travel and tourism industry in the world have been extremely debated by industry practitioners, the tourism department of the government, and the academic community.

Most of the countries all over the world are decided to close their borders and postpone their airline’s services due to the Covid-19 pandemic. United Nations World Tourism Organization reported that there is a global crisis in the tourism industry and Covid-19 is responsible for a decline of international tourist arrivals that estimate the losses of US$300–450 billion [ 19 ]. This is surprisingly more terrible than the effect of SARS in 2003 [ 21 ]. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many countries and the global tourism industry faces terrible situations in which business has been closed, lives have been lost, and people are on high alert for social safety. The earlier studies [ 8 , 9 , 22 , 23 ] indicate that the academic community timely provides research for everyone’s benefit over the healthcare, sociologies, and hard science. Concerning this research, the existing study aims to investigate the social impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on tourism destination and tourists’ behaviors as well as their preferences during this pandemic. This investigation likewise explains how global travel and hospitality practices are probably going to change because of the pandemic. This study depends on the synthesis of early literature and sources of published news and reports related to tourism management, marketing, healthcare, and tourist behavior. Based on these, the study draws a conceptual model for empirical assessment. For the post-Covid-19 and business recovery, these insights will assist tourism operators, managers, marketers, and industry practitioners tailor their tourism products and services.

Literature review

Underpinning theory.

This study uses the concept of pathogen-stress theory [ 24 ] to evaluate the travel risk and management perception due to the Covid-19 uncertainty and determining human behaviors in societal issues. Some authors have [ 25 ] explored the influence of pathogen thereat in the context of Covid-19 epidemics. The personality traits are predicted by a parasite-stress theory of human sociality that highlights the infection risks related to the interaction with conspecifics [ 24 , 26 ]. The travel risk and management perception refer to the risk of human-to-human transmission. The infection risks are connected to the openness of human contact. The increased contact with many group members implies a higher risk of human-to-human transmission. According to this theory, when people develop in a parasite-infested environment, they become less open to visitors, less curious, less exploratory and reduce their chance of infection. This theory is not only emphasized cultural differences but also cultural difference over space such as between different human populations. Generalizing the concept of pathogen-stress theory, this study explores the effect of Covid-19 epidemic and its impact on travel risk and management perceptions.

Effect of Covid-19 pandemic

Covid-19 is a new pandemic that first erupted in December 2019 in China and spreads rapidly across the world through human-to-human transmission. Most countries all over the world are instituting short-term travel restrictions to stop the spread of infection which increase the concern caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism industry worldwide [ 5 ]. Researchers must think about the previous disaster of the 2003 SARS outbreak [ 27 ] and the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka [ 28 ] for lessons on how to manage the crisis from the disaster [ 19 ]. Tourists prefer an inclusive tourism package, safety and security when travelling to popular destinations. They want to avoid risk and crowded tourism destinations, and they may decide not to visit destinations if their destination preferences diminished well-being after the outbreak. The covid-19 pandemic is already brought severe concerns to the world tourism industry and niche market. United Nation [ 21 ] reports that the recent circumstance of the tourism sector is very worse due to the pandemic. This crisis expanded in the world and Covid-19 pandemic easily immobilize international tourists’ emotional stability. The impact of Covid-19 epidemic is greatly affected tourists’ travel risk and management perception. Researchers [ 19 ] suggested the practitioners for exploring the tourists’ travel behavior towards tourism destinations. The discussion of existing literature evidence that there is no empirical examination that focuses on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on tourists’ travel risk and management perception. Thus, we propose the hypothesis:

• H1. The fear of Covid-19 pandemic affects the tourists’ travel risk and management perception.

Tourists’ travel risk and management perception

Travel risk and management perception refer to the evaluation of a situation concerning the risk to make travel decisions in destinations [ 1 ]. Travellers’ risk and management perception is a key component for tourism destinations. Risk management refers to the practice of recognizing potential risks of the travel and tourism industry due to the current pandemic in analyzing, improvement and taking preventive steps to reduce the risk. Many countries of the world started to recover from the crisis of tourism events [ 2 ]. Tourists’ travel arrangement should be organized to minimize the risk and stress of tourists. For example, tourists should purchase insurance when they booked trips to destinations. Researchers [ 29 ] stated that the travel and tourism industry is vulnerable against risk including crises events, epidemics, pandemics, and other risks that challenges tourists’ safety. The previous studies indicated that risk restricts travel is negatively affect tourism demand [ 30 – 32 ]. Other authors [ 33 ] found that perceived risk negatively affects tourists’ destination perceptions. This study postulated that:

• H2. Tourists’ travel risk and management perception have a significant impact on risk management.

Travel risk indicates the cancellation of flights due to the tourists’ travel restrictions, travel risk and management perceptions. The travel cancellation leads to tourists’ negative emotion, anxiety and disappointment [ 34 ]. In line with this, service delivery or service efficiency is crucial to tourism initiative performance. Service failure could lead to a negative impact on travel destinations. The previous studies indicated that tourists’ travel risk and management perception may negatively influence tourists’ decision making [ 35 , 36 ]. Professional service delivery and timely response could reduce tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions. Studies [ 36 ] identified that some restaurant refused to provide service delivery to Chinese people. This racial discrimination may lead to tourists’ having an increase in travel risk and management perceptions towards destinations. Research study [ 4 ] stated that public health crisis can affect tourists’ dining behavior. Thus, tourist should avoid eating in restaurants and order delivery to minimize social interaction and avoid unnecessary contact with people during the pandemic. Therefore, this study postulated that:

• H3. Tourists’ travel risk and management perception have a significant relationship with service delivery.

The travel behavior of people changes at the individual level due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the globe [ 37 ]. It is difficult to change the transportation pattern in the public areas and crowded public transits in the country. Articles [ 4 ] reported that bike or ride-sharing services could be alternative to more crowded transit options in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. Social distance is important to avoid crowded areas, thus, the availability of different transportation options within the country can help tourists to decide to visit their desired tourism places. Another study [ 38 ] stated that the transportation network is vulnerable to disturbance due to movement restrictions. Research work [ 39 ] indicated that the use of public transport signifies a higher risk of infection of Covid-19 in Budapest. This study proposed the following hypothesis:

• H4. Tourists’ travel risk and management perception are positively related to travel pattern.

The distribution channel refers to the traditional travel agencies to online agents while purchasing tour packages, booking hotels and buying ticket [ 4 ]. Distribution channels are the intermediaries through which a product and services pass to the end customers. Authors [ 40 ] stated that customer behavior has a significant link with purchase behavior, destination choice, experience sharing, and information searches. Information technology can easily reduce an individual’s travel risk and management in person-to-person communication [ 41 ]. For instance, people can work at home without travelling to the office, involve with distance learning, order products and services online, and performing banking transaction virtually. People use technology for travel-related purposes such as booking holidays, offering instant vendor feedback, and comparing travel destinations, which lead to reducing travel risk and management perceptions. Therefore, we proposed that:

• H5. Tourists’ travel risk and management perception have a significant influence on distribution channels.

Covid-19 spreads through human-to-human transmission, thus, it is crucial to avoid overpopulated destinations. Overpopulated destination refers to the neologism that indicates the overcrowded people on a holiday destination. A collaborative work [ 42 ] indicated that pathogen threats make people alert and avoid overpopulated destination. This tendency will initiate a mind shift in people travel behavior and reduce the tourists’ travel risk and management perception in the avoidance of overpopulated destination [ 43 ]. It’s reported that social distancing can assist to prevent infection of Covid-19 epidemics [ 44 ]. According to several studies [ 4 , 45 , 46 ] tourism locations are plagued by overcrowded travelers, thus, tourism operators can identify how the best way to manage tourist flows to make sure safety, well-being and risk perception of visitors. This study proposes that:

• H6. Tourists’ travel risk and management perception have a significant impact on the avoidance of overpopulated destinations during Covid-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic has made people conscious of hygiene and safety. People are concerned about their safety and hygienic need in public transports, hotels and recreational sites [ 47 ]. To reduce the symptom of people of Covid-19 epidemics, face masks use can be helpful for the hygiene and safety of people [ 4 , 48 ]. Covid-19 pandemic have greatly affected the travel decision of tourists and their health safety and hygiene [ 4 ]. It implies that safety and hygiene can be a significant factor for the travel risk and management perception of tourists. Because the risk mostly belongs to safety and hygienic including health-related issues. The potential tourists are generally like to seek destinations’ safety and hygiene, cleanliness, established infrastructure, and high-quality medical facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic [ 4 ]. Thus, this study postulated that:

• H7. Tourists’ travel risk and management perception have a significant impact on destinations’ hygiene and safety.

Based on the existing theoretical and empirical assessment, this study proposes a conceptual model ( Fig 1 ).

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486.g001

Methodology

Survey instrument..

This study uses an explicit statement for measuring respondents’ responses to the given factors of Covid-19 epidemic, tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions and their social traits. Studies [ 49 ] supported that this method is suitable for the respondents for an understanding of the survey measurement items. This study uses multi-measurement items for all constructs due to overcoming the limitations of using a single item. Specifically, five measurement items were modified from [ 8 ] and [ 19 ] for evaluating the effect of Covid-19 pandemic. A total of four questions measuring travel risk and management perception were adapted from previous studies [ 19 , 50 ]. The five measurement items used to evaluate risk management considering tourists’ travel risk management perception to visit the destinations were modified from [ 5 ] and [ 19 ], while the three questions related to service delivery were adapted from [ 19 ]. Three measurement items referring to [ 19 ] were designed to evaluate transportation patterns, and three questions based on [ 41 , 51 ] and [ 19 ] measured to assess distribution channels. Four items were modified from [ 44 ] and [ 4 ] to measure the avoidance of overpopulated destinations, while four items developed from [ 4 , 48 ] to evaluate hygiene and safety. All measurement items under the constructs were assessed using a seven-point Likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7).

Survey administration and sample

The data were collected from a self-administered questionnaire to examine the conceptual model of this study. The questionnaire of this study was pretested to certify the validity of the survey instrument. To ensure content validity, the researchers of this study conducted a pilot test among 50 international tourists. The reliability test was employed to identify Cronbach’s alpha value (above 0.70) of all constructs and confirm the reliability of the survey questions [ 52 ]. In this study, an English version questionnaire was used for data collection as most of the participants were educated, and they were able to answer the survey questions. The questionnaire was delivered through an online survey using the Google platform tools and highlighted the main purpose of this study. We described the procedure of the survey to the respondents before participating in this study. The researchers of this study politely requested respondents through the online platform, explained the purpose of the study and asked for their consent to be part of participants in this study.

We ensured to the respondents that the data would be collected for academic only and no other authorities would have access to this information. Also, we confirmed to the respondents that they would remain anonymous because participants were not required to provide their name, address and mobile numbers. The survey questionnaire of the Google platform link was shared on social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, BiP) for collecting data. Also, the researchers of this study collected an email address from the respondents through Linkedin and sent them a Google platform link to the survey questionnaire. The online questionnaires could be completed with the use of respondents’ smartphone, laptop/computer. The complete survey questionnaire consisted of 63 items and they took approximately 20 minutes to complete. We adopted the cross-sectional design and collected data from 731 international tourists via an online survey from the 2nd week of April to the 1st week of July 2020. Before collecting the data, an ethical research approval letter was obtained from the Jiujiang University Research Ethics Committee (JUREC). An introductory letter and consent form was also obtained from the ethics committee, which clearly expressed the reason for this study to acquire consent from the respondents for conducting the study. Online survey approach was used for collecting data from the respondents. We sent a consent form to the respondents whether they are willing to participate in this study. The respondents of this study are individual tourists who visited different tourism destinations around the globe. In line with this, we used a representative sampling method for collecting data from the different geographic areas such as Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and America. A representative sample can cover a part of the population and allows to approximate the entire population. Studies [ 53 ] indicated that a representative sample can accurately reflect the characteristics of the large group.

A total of 1000 questionnaires with consent form were sent using a Google platform and 731 were returned, confirming a return rate of 73.1%. A total of 1000 questionnaires with consent form were sent using a Google platform and 731 were returned, confirming a return rate of 73.1%. Fifteen returned questionnaires were found to have only partially completed and thus they were not usable. The usable response rate was approximately 71.6%. The respondents’ answers to the open-ended question were hand-coded and checked by the researchers of this study. In this study, the minimum sample size was according to prior power calculation. We considered recruiting at 716 respondents because this would provide satisfactory power 0.80 to detect expected correction coefficient 0.20 ( https://www.sample-size.net/correlation-sample-size/ ). We considered a large sample size in this study since this could increase the statistical power for detecting poor effects and strengthen the robustness of the results.

Data analysis method

In this study, we have used SmartPLS3.0 software for testing the hypothesis relationship among the indicators. The partial least square (PLS) method is a more appropriate statistical technique since it can prevent specification errors and improve the reliability of the results, as well as provide better outcomes and minimize structural errors [ 54 ]. This method is suitable for examining the hypothesis relationships of the study [ 55 ]. The PLS method consists of 2 steps, for example, measurement model and structural model [ 56 ], which has been analyzed in this study.

Multivariate normality and common method variance

Structural equation modeling using the partial least square method is not related to multivariate normality in data, because it is a non-parametric assessment instrument [ 57 ]. It is [ 58 ] suggested that multivariate data normality can be tested using the online tool of web power ( https://webpower.psychstat.org/wiki/tools/index ) to estimate data normality. We run the web power and the result revealed that the data set is not normal because [ 59 ] multivariate coefficient p-values were less than 0.05 [ 60 , 61 ]. In social science study, common method variance is normal due to the data collection procedures. We run [ 62 ] one-factor test [ 63 ] to evaluate the effect of common method variance on the constructs of the study. The result of one-factor Harman’s test revealed that common method variance is not a critical matter in this study because the main factor explained 33.45% variance, indicating less than the suggested limit of 50% [ 64 ].

Data analysis

Demographic characteristics.

The majority of the respondents consisted of male (66.7) whereas female was 33.3%. In terms of the marital status of the respondents, 59.9% was married followed by a single (36.8%) and divorced (3.2%). The majority of the respondents had a bachelor’s degree (57.1%) followed by a master’s degree (24.4%), a secondary school/diploma degree 14.0, and a PhD (4.5%). The results indicated that around 87.5% of respondents were not infected by the affected Covid-19 pandemic whereas 1.2% were infected by Covid-19 and 11.3% of respondent do not know whether they were infected by Covid-19 or not. In terms of travel purpose, the majority of the respondents (39.1%) travel for leisure/holiday or shopping purposes, which followed by education/conference (28.2%), healthcare (17.0%), others (11.3%) and business (4.4%). The following are the percentage of age group: between 18–29 years old (42.0%), between 30–39 years old (33.6%), between 50–59 years old (6.7%), and above 60 years old (1.7%). The majority of the respondents were a private employee (59.9%) followed by a government employee (30.8%), and unemployed (9.2%). The following are the percentage for monthly income of the respondents: less than USD2000 (74.4%), between USD2001- USD5000 (18%), between USD5001- USD7000 (4.3%), between USD7001- USD10000 (1.6%), and above USD10000 monthly income. The majority of the respondents in this study were from Middle East (37.2%), followed by Asia (29.3%), Africa (14.1%), Australia (9.3%), Europe (7.0%), and America (3.1%).

Measurement model analysis

In this study, we examined two types of validity such as convergent validity and discriminant validity to evaluate the measurement model. The convergent validity is assessed with two major coefficients such as composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE). To measure the convergent validity, the factor loading of each construct should be considered and compared to a threshold. Studies [ 55 ] reported that the loading should be greater than 0.70 to measure convergent validity. Researcher [ 56 ] postulated that the items of each factor loading lower than 0.40 is required to consider for elimination. The findings revealed that the majority of the indicator loadings on their corresponding latent variables are greater than 0.80 ( Table 1 ), indicating a higher convergent validity of the model. The CR coefficient was used to measure the construct reliability. The result showed that the value exceeded 0.80 for all latent variables, which indicates the acceptable construct reliability. The results of AVE of all latent variables exceeds the threshold of 0.50 [ 56 ], which signifies that the convergent validity of the measurement model is acceptable. The Cronbach’s alpha value exceeded the cut-off point 0.70 [ 54 ], which recognizing that internal reliability attains the acceptable level. The rho-A value exceeded that threshold 0.70 and the variance inflation factor (VIF) sowed lower than 3.3, which indicating that there is no multicollinearity issue in the model.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486.t001

Discriminant validity is the extent to which each latent variable is distinct from all other variables in the model [ 56 ]. Researchers [ 55 ] argued that the square root of the AVE for each variable should be higher than all of the relationships among the variable and other variables in the model. Table 2 showed the square roots of the AVE for the variables along the diagonal and the correlations among the indicators. The findings revealed that the square root of AVE is higher than all other values in the same row and column, which indicates that the model meets acceptable discriminant validity. We also considered the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) to estimate the discriminant validity of the model [ 65 ]. The results indicated that HTMT is lower than 0.90, which indicating that the discriminant validity meets the acceptable level [ 66 ].

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486.t002

Structural model analysis

The model’s predictive accuracy was estimated based on the explained variance portion (R 2 ), whereas the R 2 value of travel risk and management perceptions, risk management, service delivery, transportation patterns, distribution channels, avoidance of overpopulated destinations, and hygiene and safety were 0.628, 0.553, 0.521, 0.352, 0.668, 0.523, and 0.454 respectively. Based on [ 67 ], a non-parametric bootstrapping method was used to test the hypothesis relationships. The findings revealed that the effect of Covid-19 pandemic has significant impact on travel risk and management perceptions (β = 0.727, p < 0.01), and tourists’ travel risk and management perception has significant impact on risk management (β = 0.743, p < 0.01), service delivery (β = 0.470, p < 0.01), transportation patterns (β = 0.481, p < 0.01), distribution channels (β = 0.261, p < 0.01), avoidance overpopulated destinations (β = 0.472, p < 0.01), and hygiene and safety (β = 0.312, p < 0.01), thus, hypothesis H1-H7 are accepted ( Table 3 ). The effect size was estimated using f 2 values. Cohen (2013) [ 68 ] reported that f 2 ≥ 0.02, f 2 ≥ 0.15, and f 2 ≥ 0.35 present small, medium, and large effect sizes respectively. The findings revealed that hygiene and safety ( f 2 = 0.365), transportation patterns ( f 2 = 0.356), and avoidance overpopulated destinations ( f 2 = 0.352) have a high effect size, whereas service delivery ( f 2 = 0.283), risk management ( f 2 = 0.236), and ravel risk perception ( f 2 = 0.356) have a medium effect size but distribution channels ( f 2 = 0.073) have a small effect size. The Q 2 values for travel risk and management (0.349), risk management (0.350), service delivery (0.160), transportation pattern (0.166), distribution channel (0.036), avoidance of overpopulated destination (0.141), and hygiene and safety (0.132) were all larger than zero [ 69 ], indicating a predictive relevance of the construct.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486.t003

With respect mediating effects, the findings revealed that travel risk and management perception mediates the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on risk management (β = 0.540, t = 9.518, p < 0.01), service delivery (β = 0.341, t = 4.993, p < 0.01), transportation patterns (β = 0.350, t = 5.325, p < 0.01), distribution channels (β = 0.189, t = 2.688, p < 0.01), avoidance overpopulated destinations (β = 0.343, t = 5.612, p < 0.01), and hygiene and safety (β = 0.267, t = 3.869, p < 0.01), therefore H8a-H8f are accepted ( Table 4 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486.t004

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Covid-19 pandemic, a newly developed scale designed to measure the aspect of international tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions and its social outcomes. The results of the structural model assessment revealed the hypothesis relationships, which indicated that the Covid-19 pandemic has a relationship with travel risk and management perceptions. It implies that due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic across the globe, the majority of the countries were set up short-term travel limits to control the mass panic. By conducting a review of the previous study indicated that there is a relationship between perceived risk for disease-related factors and Covid-19 pandemic [ 13 ].

The existing study results identified that the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected risk management, service delivery, travel pattern, distribution channel, avoidance of overpopulated destinations, and hygiene and safety through the tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions. The tourists believe that Covid-19 pandemic has created travel risk and management perception and reduce their travel plant to destinations. Data analysis of this study specifies that tourists’ travel risk and management perception is greatly associated with risk management. In service research the Covid-19 pandemic context, risk management has been marked as a significant factor affecting an individual’s belief about controlling threats of a pandemic. The previous study [ 4 ] supported that tourists’ behavior can lead to risk management for destination infrastructure and medical facilities, destination image, and trip planning.

The result highlight that travels risk perception is associated with service delivery. This finding is related to [ 70 ] which found that there is a significant relationship between Covid-19 pandemic and service delivery. Tourists can avoid eating and drinking in restaurants. There is an alternative solution for people who can order delivery or takeout food to minimize interpersonal interaction. This study expands the existing knowledge by examining the effect of travel risk and management perception on travel pattern. This result is related to [ 4 ] who reported that travel pattern can lead to independent travel or small group tours, less group dining, promote destinations experiencing under tourism, and diversity such as novel outdoor activities, smart tourism, and nature-based travel. The findings indicated there is a positive association between travel risk and management perception and distribution channels. It infers that distribution Chanel can encourage people for nature-based travel and smart tourism to reduce the travel risk and risk management perception during the Covid-19 pandemic. some researchers have reported that people can use technology for travel-related purposes to reduce travel risk and risk management perception [ 9 ].

The empirical results indicated that tourists’ travel risk and management perception is greatly associated with the avoidance of overpopulated destinations. The effect of Covid-19 pandemic spreads through human-to-human transmission, thus, avoidance of overcrowded destinations can be an alternative solution to reduce infection [ 44 ]. The overpopulated destinations can be minimized by using a short-term strategy of imposing travel restrictions for certain attractions destinations. Data analysis point out that the travel risk and management perception have a positive impact on hygiene and safety, which corresponds well with a previous study [ 4 ] which indicated that travel risk and management perception has greatly affected tourists’ travel decision and their perceptions of hygiene and safety due to the spread of Covid-19 epidemic. In the context of service research, hygiene and safety judgments have been marked as an important construct affecting people’s safety and security towards the service firm or customers’ purchase intention of goods and services offered by the firms or service organizations. Tourists can purchase travel insurance when booking trips to confirm coverage in case of illness including Covid-19. Usually, the potential tourists are likely to express their interest in destinations’ hygiene, safety, security, cleanliness, avoidance population density, and medical facilities when they decide for travelling to destinations.

Implications

The findings of this study indicated that Covid-19 has affected tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions and its impact on risk management, service delivery, transportation patterns, distribution channels, avoidance of overpopulated destinations, hygiene and safety. Tourists believe that Covid-19 pandemic has created tourists’ health anxiety and reduce their travel plans for destinations. These findings may help policy-makers and healthcare operators to manage maladaptive levels of concern due to Covid-19 pandemic, and to know who is more inclined to react unpleasantly towards the Covid-19 pandemic. Health practitioners can improve educational interventions while targeting international tourists for travel destinations. Tourists are worried about the spread of Covid-19 pandemic on their travel activities and travel-related preferences in the post-pandemic period. With the significant effect of Covid-19 pandemic, this study contributes key insights to assist tourism policymakers and practitioners improve effective strategies to enhance tourists’ confidence after facing health risk crisis and travel risk and management perception towards travel destinations. The travel movement has become more selective, therefore independent travel and health tourism are crucial. Tourists can take fewer trips but spend longer in their picked destinations. These patterns will reduce the negative effects of the travel industry and lessen tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions. Based on the tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions and travel recuperation systems, travel attributes can move in the present due to the spread of Covid-19 epidemic.

The disaster of Covid-19 pandemic teaches us not to visit overpopulated destinations and those people suffering from overcrowded destinations, there is a necessity to evaluate their travel planning and improvement to ensure sustainability. As tourists prefer quiet destinations for their tourism activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the global travel and tourism industry could benefit by paying attention to these craving. Due to these predicted changes in tourist behavior, the world tourism industry entails close academic attention. The travel and tourism industry is a fundamental part of the global economy, liable for a large number of occupations and billions of dollars in profit. Therefore, travel and tourism industry practitioners and policymakers should reevaluate tourists’ behavior, travel industry policies, regulations, tourism operators’ market, and tourism product development to promote continuous sustainability. The existing global health crisis has an unprecedented impact on the travel and tourism industry due to the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

Tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions and their impacts on the tourism market or society (e.g. risk management perception, service delivery, transportation patterns, distribution Channels, avoidance of overpopulated destinations, hygiene and safety), need a top to bottom investigation to empower the tourism industry experts, and policymakers to build up a more adjusted industry. Tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions in the tourism industry will likewise prompt the development of new tourism markets that academics and tourism operators can investigate together. The findings of the existing empirical study are likely to shape theories on tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions, tourists’ behavior, marketing and management, both in the travel and tourism industry explicitly and in more extensive fields in general. The spread of Covid-19 flare-up has carried critical effects on society and industry. The travel and tourism policymakers and academicians should consider this pandemic tragedy and how it will advise tourism industry practices. The potential tourists concern about how they travel to destinations; thus, tourism practitioners should consider the strategies that mitigate the spread of a pandemic, public health crises, and ponder a plan that carries positive changes to the travel industry following this pandemic. For example, tourists should be needed to buy travel insurance when booking trips to guarantee coverage if there should be an occurrence of sickness, including a post-covid pandemic. Both international and domestic tourism needs to stress safety and health measures, and any tourism activities that make tourists feel safer to travel destinations and reduce their travel risk and management perception. The impact of Covid-19 pandemic should be considered within a global community. The spread of Covid-19 epidemic will have greater psychological, sociological and financial impacts if it is not eliminated quickly across the world. While society can recuperate effectively from financial interruption, including in global travel and tourism activities, following Covid-19 pandemic, the sociological and mental effects will be more stable. People should explore the current post-covid pandemic scene cautiously and sympathetically.

Limitation and future study

This study has several limitations despite its strengths such as large sample size and a relatively heterogeneous sample of the international tourists who visited the destination for leisure/holiday or shopping purposes, education/conference, healthcare, business and other purposes. This study surveyed with self-administrative questionnaire report measures that entail potential bias assumes that participants might be influenced by social desirability. Therefore, future study should aim to use other measures such as opinions of focus groups, which could support more in-depth analysis. This study employed a quantitative method that is inflexible to participants’ subjective views on the effect of Covid-19 pandemic, thus, future study is suggested to ask qualitative assessments using in-depth interviews. The data was collected through the online platform, which much easier for the young generations compare to the older generations, and leads to a large number of a younger group of participants. A limited number of items were used to evaluate the constructs of the conceptual model and thus future studies should cover the large measurement items. The objective of this study mainly focuses on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on tourist travel risk and management perception to assist the tourism industry to provide coping strategies in the face of the tourism crisis. Thus, future study should be conducted to investigate the factors that influencing tourists travel risk attitudes and risk management perceptions during and after the Covid-19 epidemic. This might be helpful for tourism managers and practitioners to pay attention to the control of Covid-19 crisis, and a systematic management strategy to promote the development of the tourism industry.

Supporting information

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486.s001

S1 Dataset.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486.s002

S2 Dataset.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256486.s003

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6 Risks for a travel agency business and how to solve them

An example of a risk assessment for a travel agency

Challenges for a travel agency to survive in the current environment, threats to the tourism industry, stay relevant in a competitive market.

The role of travel agencies and tour operators in the tourism industry is clearly essential, but these kinds of businesses face a number of risks. Some of these risks apply generally to the retail and service industries and others are specific to the travel industry.

There are several challenges for a travel agency (or a travel host agency ) to survive in the current environment. In this article, we identify some potential threats in the travel agency business and provide guidance on how you can protect your agency against them.

If you run your travel business from a store or office then you are legally required to carry out a regular risk assessment of your premises to make sure that you are taking reasonable steps to prevent your employees and customers from harm. In the US, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration looks after safety in the workplace. In the UK, it’s the Health and Safety Executive and they can provide you with an example of a risk assessment for a travel agency .

There are also some elements of insurance that a business is legally obliged to have, such as employer’s liability and commercial car insurance. Now is a good time to take a detailed look at your business insurance coverage.

Insurance companies provide standard commercial coverage against fire, flooding, theft and accidents. They are very unlikely to provide for business interruption due to a global pandemic, although it’s worth speaking to your insurance provider to explain your own circumstances and seek advice on the exact coverage of your policy.

Apart from the normal risks in travel agency business, it’s important that your business remains covered for standard risks, especially if your store or office is unoccupied for a period of time. In general, cyber insurance policies will include coverage for working from home too.

There are several challenges for a travel agency or an online travel agency ( OTAs ) to survive in the current environment. These relate to your business reputation and duty of care, your ability to stay solvent and the extent to which you succeed in giving your customers what they want.

Travel agency problems

Crises tend to bring out the very best and worst behaviour from companies and the spread of Covid-19 has been no exception. Remember Britannia Hotels , the UK hotel group that not only made employees redundant on the spot but also homeless? After such widespread bad publicity, who would want to book or work with them?

Compare that with companies like Marriott International that are helping to fight the virus by offering free food and accommodation to nurses, doctors, and key workers. Obviously, you would prefer your business to be associated with the latter rather than the former!

Your reputation and duty of care

Reputation matters at all times. People will be writing about your company and the services you offer on a range of online platforms. It is essential that you track and respond to this feedback promptly and you may need reputation management software to help you do this.

Crises can make or break companies, but reputations are formed over the long-term . How you deal with cancellations and postponements will tell your customers what kind of company you are. It is important to communicate clearly and be consistent and transparent regarding your policies. You could also help them obtain the best and most appropriate travel insurance for their future needs.

Travel advisors owe a duty of care to their employees and the traveling public they serve, including a responsibility to provide all relevant and necessary information. Take a look at the code of ethics of the American Society of Travel Advisors as a reference.

Cashflow is crucial to your survival

Second, only to health, cash is the focus for all business owners right now. Current travel agency problems include the virtual absence of business travel and hence scarce ability to generate revenue from airline tickets at the moment. Dealing with cancellations while maintaining revenue flow may seem like a tricky balancing act but it is a process that can help you find out more about your customers and their needs. Singapore-based travel start-up Anywhr is encouraging its customers to plan far into the future. It is reportedly offering a 60% discount off its annual membership which gives users up to ten planned trips. The deal now costs $300 instead of $900 and healthcare workers get two years for the price of one. More than 500 new members have signed up so far.

Build-in financial resilience

In times of crisis, it is necessary to build financial resilience into your business model. You may be able to re-negotiate your rent and lower your expenditure on utilities. Keeping in touch with local professional organizations will help you understand whether you and your employees are entitled to government-sponsored financial aid.

If it does become necessary to reduce your labor overheads then Roger Block , president of Travel Leaders Network, has some valuable advice about making labor cuts while keeping your workforce motivated and on the side.

There are other areas where you should be investing in order to future-proof your operation. Optimizing your IT operations will give you a significant competitive edge by introducing new ideas and technologies. For example, Hotelmize has developed a unique profit optimization solution powered by AI that unlocks hidden profits from hotel bookings already made on your platform.

To date, Hotelmize has handled over $2b worth of reservations and generated more than $100m of extra profit for its customers, including many leaders of the global tourism industry.

In September 2019, Thomas Cook , one of the world’s oldest and best-known travel operators collapsed with debts of $2b, putting thousands out of work. How could a business with a 178-year history fail so spectacularly?

Obviously, coronavirus had nothing to do with it. Rather, bad management, enormous debts and terrorism in North Africa and Egypt – key markets for the operator – were just some of the contributing factors.

But most damaging of all was Thomas Cook’s seeming reluctance or inability to change with the times. Whilst its rivals widened their offers to include weekend breaks or three-week holidays, Thomas Cook doggedly stuck to its package holidays of one or two-week duration only. It also clung onto its lossmaking high-street stores whilst online booking became the norm. If you are asking what is a booking system then you need to do some research.

The demise of Thomas Cook gives us a valuable lesson about staying relevant in a highly competitive market and rapidly-changing world like the top online travel agencies do.

As a travel agency, your success will depend on keeping a laser-sharp focus on what your customers want. The way to stay relevant and avoid the mistakes made by Thomas Cook is to constantly stay agile, think creatively and be responsive to the needs of all types of travelers . Arguably this is easier to achieve if you are a small business. For more ideas, read our article on the future of tour operators.

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Ben Walker has 18 years of experience in the hotel and travel sectors. He has worked as PR & communications manager for TRI Hospitality Consulting London, the creators of HotStats, the hotel market benchmarking, financial analysis, and performance reporting solution. He has also been the business editor of The Caterer, and communications manager and editor for the international professional body, the Institute of Hospitality.

Mize is the leading hotel booking optimization solution in the world. With over 170 partners using our fintech products, Mize creates new extra profit for the hotel booking industry using its fully automated proprietary technology and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue across its suite of products for its partners. Mize was founded in 2016 with its headquarters in Tel Aviv and offices worldwide.

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Cyber incidents have emerged as the top risk faced by the hospitality, leisure, and tourism sector in 2024, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer. The report, based on insights from over 3,000 risk management professionals and business leaders, emphasizes the critical need to address these risks to ensure business continuity and protect against potential disruptions.

With 36% of respondents expressing concern, cyber incidents have taken the lead as the most significant and new risk in the hospitality, leisure, and tourism sector. The recent surge in ransomware attacks has resulted in a staggering 50% increase in insurance claims activity compared to 2022. Hackers are now targeting both IT and physical supply chains, launching mass cyber-attacks, and devising new methods to extort money from businesses. Consequently, early detection and response capabilities and tools have become increasingly crucial.

“Cyber criminals are exploring ways to use new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) to automate and accelerate attacks, creating more effective malware and phishing. The growing number of incidents caused by poor cyber security, in mobile devices in particular, a shortage of millions of cyber security professionals, and the threat facing smaller companies because of their reliance on IT outsourcing are also expected to drive cyber activity in 2024,” explains Santho Mohapeloa, Cyber Insurance Expert, Allianz Commercial.

Investment in detection, supported by artificial intelligence, is expected to enhance incident identification. Without effective early detection tools, companies may face prolonged unplanned downtime, increased costs, and a greater impact on customers, revenue, and reputation.

While cyber incidents take the top spot, business interruption, changes in legislation and regulation, macroeconomic developments, and natural catastrophes jointly rank as the second most concerning risks, each receiving 22% of responses. Business interruption has moved down to the number two threat for the hospitality, leisure, and tourism industry.

The top two causes of business interruption, following cyber incidents, are natural catastrophes and fire, with machinery/equipment breakdown or failure following closely behind. These findings highlight the interconnectedness and volatility of the global business environment, as well as the industry’s reliance on supply chains for critical products or services. Consequently, improving business continuity management, identifying supply chain bottlenecks, and developing alternative suppliers remain key risk management priorities for companies in 2024.

Changes in legislation and regulation risks[1] include increased compliance costs, uncertainty, competitive disadvantages, impacts on tourism demand, damage to reputation and image, operational disruptions, and broader economic repercussions. To ensure long-term success and sustainability, it is crucial for businesses in the sector to understand and effectively manage regulatory risks.

Macroeconomic developments can also significantly impact the hospitality, tourism, and leisure industry, introducing risks[2] such as fluctuations in consumer spending, changes in exchange rates affecting international travel demand, inflationary pressures impacting operating costs, and economic downturns leading to reduced travel budgets and discretionary spending. These risks directly affect businesses’ revenue streams, profitability, and overall competitiveness within the industry.

Furthermore, natural catastrophes risks[3] to the hospitality, tourism, and leisure industry include physical damage to infrastructure, disruption of transportation networks, safety concerns for travelers, and loss of revenue due to canceled bookings and reduced visitor numbers. The recovery efforts following such events may require significant time and resources. The occurrence of natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, and wildfires, can result in billions of dollars in economic losses for tourism-dependent regions. This highlights the urgent need for effective crisis preparedness measures and risk management strategies within the industry.

Risk mitigation: how to future-proof your operations

What these risks reveal is the extent to which risks are interrelated and aggregated in the networked world we live and work in. Faced with loss scenarios that can fall like dominoes, businesses need robust, resilient operational processes to safeguard their supply chains and ensure business continuity.

Business continuity planning (BCP) reviews are essential and must be regularly updated. Cyber protection should include regular backups, segmentation of data, the right end-point detection and multi-factor authentication. Data is paramount. Insurers such as Allianz Commercial can leverage your company data to facilitate a tailored risk assessment and help draw up a personalized mitigation strategy.

• Navigating the Pitfalls and Risks of Business Interruption

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Business travel survives the Zoom era, as leaders jump back on flights

It turns out that jet-setting on the company dime has eternal appeal. Business trips can conjure up images of fancy first-class tickets to major cities or staying at a Hilton in a small town about 20 minutes from the airport. Either way, it seems that the pandemic didn’t kill the corporate travel bug.

The brakes on business trips were first pulled when COVID-19 hit, as lockdowns and international travel restrictions were implemented. Zoom took off while planes stalled, as the video-conferencing company went from 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to 300 million a few months later in April 2020.

As the lockdown lifted, some itched to vacation again (surging to the point that the term “revenge travel” was coined), but corporate travel was slow to get its feet off the ground. Its sluggish return made some question if business trips were at the end of an era. Perhaps Zoom and remote work meant that there was no longer a need to leave the house, much less the country, to really connect with others. 

“Businesses aren’t going to support nonessential travel if the work being proposed can be done virtually,” Brian Bloom, Korn Ferry’s vice president of global benefits and mobility operations, said in 2021 . And while bosses were looking to cut costs by eliminating travel, workers weren’t looking to risk their health either. In 2021, only one-quarter of those over 55 were comfortable traveling for work even after being vaccinated, according to an IBM survey of 15,000 global participants.

But years later, it seems as if corporate demand hasn’t died off, it just was dozing off for a bit. And the airlines confirmed as much. Alaska Air reported a return to pre-pandemic levels of business travel, as sales for corporate accounts soared by 22% in the first quarter. Delta and United each reported 14% increases in first-quarter revenue, with a United executive noting that the company notched nine of its top 10 corporate booking days in its history this year. That’s coming off of the rebound in 2023 , as air travel rose to 94% of 2019 levels, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that business travel isn’t still going through growing pains . A 2023 report from Deloitte found that while recovery is occurring, the trend “likely faces a limited upside” in part due to the cost of flying and sustainability mandates. 

Still, the return of corporate travel is occurring in the background of a years-long campaign to go back to pre-pandemic ways of work, as big names in tech and finance push for a fully in-person week. One of the major talking points for those that suggested back to office work was that it would create better connections , a similar talking point that crops up when it comes to the merits of traveling to meet with clients in-person. 

It seems as if the mindset is slowly gaining traction, as a 2023 study from Global Business Travel Association projected spending on business travel will surpass pre-pandemic levels of $1.4 trillion this year and balloon to nearly $1.8 trillion by 2027. After Omicron and other surges, global business travel began to find its footing again in 2022, according to the trade group.

“The headwinds that were anticipated to impact the rebound of global business travel over the past year didn’t materialize and that is good news,” Suzanne Neufang, Global Business Travel Associate’s CEO said in a statement last year to Fortune’s Chris Morris. “This latest forecast now indicates an accelerated return to pre-pandemic spending levels sooner than anticipated as well as growth ahead in the coming years.”

As the ever-looming recession remains unannounced and executives continue to extol the benefits of in-person work, the company card has started to thaw. It appears as if the floodgates, or air gates, are beginning to open up again.

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MS officials regularly warn of polluted water. ‘It hurts us,’ one beach business says

The water is blue and the salt breeze keeps blowing, but Mississippi keeps sounding the same warning again and again.

The state’s Department of Environmental Quality routinely issues beach advisories when it finds bacteria in the water, and it has alerted swimmers of pollution more than a dozen times already this year.

No beaches are closed. But the familiar drama has become a frustration for many — and while some say the warnings do little to change swimmers’ habits, others are raising new questions about whether the bacteria is a problem or just part of coastal life.

“You get sick more from eating raw oysters,” said Barney Foster, who has rented out jet skis on the beach in Biloxi for more than four decades, and said the water has never made him ill.

Instead, he said, the warnings hurt tourism and threaten his business.

“We could shut down,” he said. “All because of what? It doesn’t make sense.”

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has long tested beaches for a type of bacteria that can indicate runoff from septic systems or boat sewage in the water. They test 21 beaches weekly and use the results from repeat offenders to trace possible sewer leaks to their source.

The advisories err “on the side of caution,” said Chris Wells, the agency’s executive director.

“We want to make sure people are aware of it,” he said. “We just let people know there could be a risk.”

The trouble often begins upriver. Cracked septic tanks, overflowing manholes and crumbling sewer lines can release untreated wastewater into roadside ditches, where storm water drains that twist and turn beneath the Coast eventually carry it past Highway 90 and into the Sound. The bacteria can also come from wildlife, Wells said, like a pelican colony on a pier.

Once it reaches the Sound, the bacteria “just sticks around,” said Anna Linhoss, an Auburn University professor who studies water quality in Alabama and Mississippi. The shallow waters of the Sound and the rush of sediment from the Mississippi River already make Coast beaches murkier than those in Alabama and Florida, and barrier islands block pollution from washing away into the Gulf.

The worry hits hardest when the beaches are closed, and the worst impacts to tourism come during long-term problems like the red tide in 2019. Foster said he let go of 17 workers — mostly college students on break — that summer.

“It hurts us,” he said. One report estimates closing beaches too often could cost the Coast $152 million in annual tourism sales.

All of which is why Wells said the Department of Environmental Quality lifts the advisories as soon as it can. Millions of dollars the state earned after the BP oil spill are also spent in part to improve water quality on the Coast , and he said the agency uses the money to convert leak-prone septic tanks to sewer systems and repair or replace old pipes.

Still, beach habits die hard. Vic Johnson, the road manager in Hancock County, said his staff posts signs and raises red flags each time they hear of a water advisory. But at most, swimmers move a mile down the beach.

“The ones who wanna go,” he said, “nothing’s going to stop them.”

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Spain’s finca la donaira is reinventing the luxury hotel in andalusia.

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The pool at Finca La Donaira

Here are some things that Finca La Donaira does not have: televisions, a reception desk, a restaurant, a bar, a concierge, a paved road in front of it, room keys, any sort of dress code, luxury-brand lotions and shampoos, designer linens, tasting menus, symmetry, and shiny objects.

Here’s what the small hotel—for lack of a better word—in southern Spain does have: functional beauty, nine utterly dreamy guest rooms, a close connection with nature, a freeform approach to hospitality, an outstanding equestrian program, all sorts of farm animals, a natural swimming pool fed by a mountain spring, a pervasive tranquility, permaculture that does not reek of hippie-dom, the soft amber glow of the Andalusian sun, and the confidence of a place that knows the rules well enough to break them.

Even though its management came through Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton, La Donaira doesn’t tick many of the five-star-hotel boxes. Forget stars (except maybe the star-carpet of the night) and forget boxes. A beautiful anarchy prevails.

The stone stairways that connect the levels of the gardens don’t align. Wildflowers pop through organized shrubbery. Prime real estate is given to a medicinal garden with some 300 plant species next to the main house. Virtually nothing came out of the traditional hospitality world.

The exterior of the house

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Rather—as these projects often are—La Donaira is the fully realized vision of one creative spirit. Austrian tech entrepreneur Manfred Bodner bought the 544-acre estate in 2005. (Subsequent land purchases have brought it closer to 1,500 acres.) He had come to Spain on business a couple of years earlier and found his childhood passion for horses reawakened by the lively equestrian culture.

He also saw in the estate, on the rolling hills of the Serranía de Ronda, an ecological canvas on which to reflect his family’s (and country’s) tradition of holistic living. He felt that Western societies’ relationship with the biosphere was generally broken, and he had some ideas about fixing that.

“Maybe we could create a beautiful place, in the middle of this pristine nature, where we explore all imaginable forms of human interaction with the rest of the biosphere,” reads the hotel literature. “Through animal experiences, through food, through our permacultural experiments or simply through being…. So we kicked it off with our practical research into alternative agriculture methods. Based on the permaculture and agroecology principles, focusing on soil fertility and biodiversity. Following with ecoluxury tourism.”

As for that ecoluxury tourism, the house is a timeless fusion of styles and traditions, a confabulation that’s somehow both fully Spanish and completely unlike anything else. When Bodner and crew found it, the main building— el cortijo, the farmhouse—was a near-ruin, with the roof partly collapsed, the walls crumbling and a complete lack of infrastructure with no piping, plumbing or cabling. It wasn’t connected to the electrical grid.

Horses and donkeys at La Donaira

This gave them the freedom to build a utopia that reflects the spirit of Andalusian village design. In their eyes, this is a lack of design, in which function trumps form, and there’s no representative façade architecture in service of symmetrical beauty. As they say, it’s “anarchic, but nevertheless comes together as a whole in [an] organic manner like a beehive.” The designers concocted a building that draws no attention to itself as “architecture” and instead feels like an organic outgrowth of nature and history.

They also chose to use the “most radically possible bio construction principles,” such as choosing stone from the UNESCO World Heritage limestone quarries in Moron de la Frontera rather than concrete, using the rocks of the farm’s grounds to remake the house’s walls, and fabricating bricks out of air-dried earth. If the humans all disappeared, it would collapse and leave nothing behind—a sort of architectural permaculture.

I could nerd out more about the traditional and ecological construction—the local chestnut wood, the reclaimed Serbian pine, the massive stone floor slabs, the cork insulation on the roof installed by a Uruguayan hidalgo, the hemp ropes, the five-inch-thick lime plaster insulation put in by a German builder living in Portugal, the lack of screws and nails(!), the passive-house ventilation concept, the double-glazed windows with argon gas in their chambers—but that starts to miss the point of just how kooky and tranquil La Donaira can be.

Of course, defining that point proves difficult when the place’s ineffable qualities defy verbiage. “The website doesn’t do it justice,” is the best some guests can offer when asked about their impressions. There’s the scale and the sounds and the scents, to be sure, but also the fact that the place is not at all self-conscious, seemingly unaware of its hard-to-pin-down seductiveness.

An aerial view of the heart of the property

General manager Ronald Jacobs confirms this. “A high number of guests are walking around speechless,” he says. “It touches you on a different level.”

It’s completely unlike anything else in Andalucia, he explains. “Our competition is not the Costa del Sol but a ranch in Patagonia or Montana, or a tented camp in Africa”—that experience, that vastness, that grandeur, that elemental simplicity. (And yes, even though it’s run more like a nonprofit than a hotel, they do care about competition, hoping to attract enough clients to fund an operation with some 90 employees.)

“Our guest is a high-end traveler looking for generosity,” says Jacobs, who managed brand-name hotels in Milan and California. “Generosity of time, of space, of attention. Big hotels have a hard time matching that. It’s just math.” La Donaira’s is “a more fulfilling kind of hospitality.”

The art and design also play a role, he says. “It reminds us that we are still part of today. It’s not completely in the past” but there’s an “emotional feeling” and a sense that it’s a “retreat from the ways we’ve lost our way in modern life. We see how life can be very different.”

The grounds at La Donaira

And that’s how I ended up spending two nights in a dreamy cocoon of a duplex room, with an exposed boulder in the corner of the living room floor next to a furry white butterfly chair, a floating staircase of wooden slats and wrought iron, a red velvet loveseat and a mosquito-netted meringue of a bed on the upper floor. One artwork looked like a deer head made of pressed flowers, and another like a naked lady wearing a Devo hat. It didn’t seem to have a theme, yet everything was in harmony.

Of course, all that serendipity came from some rigor, following the “process” that Bodner and crew followed, in which they let the house “accept” or “reject” certain elements by leaving them on tables or floors in the construction site until they “got spat out—mostly minutes.” When fancy European bath fixtures felt too weak, they opted instead for industrial fittings made in the US. They rejected the sleek “Milano jacket” leather samples for the modular furnishings in the community area and pushed the Italian fabricator to work with a thick, rough leather used for blacksmith aprons and rustic Spanish saddlery, even though it just barely passed through the sewing machines and the atelier made them sign a waiver.

There are dozens of other examples, like the 100% ecological mattresses with natural latex and coco fibers at the core, wrapped up in Welsh sheep’s wool, and special toppers made of horse hair swaddled in cashmere and organic cotton; downs from Austria and organic linens from Portugal; the eclectic collection of international contemporary art; and the collection of vintage furniture (14th century to modern) sourced during the design team’s travels to Madrid, Bordeaux, Brussels, Antwerp, Vienna and beyond.

I’m doing it again: talking about furniture rather than feeling. But another element that makes La Donaira feel less like a hotel and more like a timeless retreat is the fact that everything is on display. There is no back of house. Jacobs sometimes works in a glass-walled cabin near the swimming pool, but other staff set up their laptops on the mezzanine. The kitchen brigade does their prep and cleaning in a workspace that’s as open as a home kitchen would be. This leads to a calm informality and authentic interactions, yet there seems to be little chance that a guest could end up thirsty or hungry before anyone checks on them. There’s an intuitive taking-care-of.

The natural spring-fed swimming pool

Perhaps that’s why a plate of chorizo shows up when guests arrive, along with cheese, bread, honey and olives, all of it produced on-site. A bit of the wine comes from the property’s vineyards, with the rest of it organic and biodynamic bottles from the owner’s friends, but housemade kombucha is also on offer.

Proper meals are served on the terrace, around the community area and in the kitchen, which was custom-made from 19th-century factory equipment: legs of cast iron machine parts, a surface of leather drive belts that have thousands of kilometers of use on them, making them equally soft and firm to the touch. The cooking is homestyle and sharable, with an emphasis on the local: vegetables and salad greens from the gardens, eggs and milk from the chickens and goats, and proteins from the lambs, cows and chickens.

It's the kind of food that could change a vegetarian’s mind (or not—no one’s forcing anything). Jacobs didn’t eat meat for most of his life, but he started here, after seeing how animals are raised—“it’s not the cow; it’s the how,” he says—and the importance that livestock plays in regenerative agriculture. Here as well, La Donaira has a thoughtful complexity that belies its freeform hospitality.

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Best Car Insurance Companies of 2024

Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate insurance products to write unbiased product reviews.

If you drive, you probably need car insurance. Nearly all states have liability insurance requirements for drivers. New Hampshire does not have these requirements, but don't mistake this for a free pass to get on the road unprotected.

Generally, it's a good idea to go beyond state minimums and opt for full coverage , which can be a mix of liability, comprehensive, and collision car insurance to ensure you've covered your bases in a wide range of scenarios. 

Best Car Insurance of 2024

• Best Customer Satisfaction: Amica Mutual
• Best Affordable Coverage: GEICO
• Best for Military: USAA
• Best for Teen Drivers: State Farm
• Best for Discounts: Farmers Insurance
• Best for Teachers: Liberty Mutual Insurance
• Best for Accident Forgiveness: Progressive

Compare the Best Car Insurance Companies

Auto insurance is a safeguard and can lessen the financial burden of a car accident, but only if you have the proper coverage. The best car insurance will offer solid coverage without going overboard on premium rates.

Here are the best car insurance companies of 2024.

Best customer satisfaction: Amica Mutual

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Many discounts and options to bundle insurance policies
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. high customer satisfaction according to JD Power's auto insurance study
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Long history in the insurance industry
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Not available in Hawaii
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. May not provide the most competitive rates for higher risk drivers
• Ranks high in customer satisfaction
• Discount for students and vehicle safety

Founded in 1907 as The Automobile Mutual Insurance Company of America, Amica Mutual Insurance Company is well-regarded in auto insurance. Amica Mutual was ranked number one in JD Power's most recent U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, factoring in the experiences of over 8,000 participants who had filed and settled an auto insurance claim within the previous six months.

Amica car insurance also has an A+ rating from AM Best, which looks at a company's financial stability. The more financially stable a company is, the more likely it is to be around to pay your claims when you need it. So its excellent AM Best ranking gives many consumers peace of mind.

Amica offers liability, collision, comprehensive, and other common types of auto insurance. It also provides gap coverage, which can be helpful if you get into an accident with a vehicle you're currently financing. This covers any difference between your car's value and your loan balance in the event of a total loss. The exact limits and terms may vary based on the plan you buy. As such, we recommend speaking with an Amica agent to ensure you understand everything you need to know.

You can also opt for roadside assistance or get its premium option, Platinum Choice® Auto. It comes with glass repair with no deductible, rental coverage, new car replacement, and more. Amica also offers a mobile app to manage all your insurance needs.

Read our Amica Auto Insurance review here.

Best affordability coverage: GEICO

Discounts for airbags, anti-theft system, military, good student, good driver, multi-car discounts, and bundling insurance

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. National presence with coverage in all 50 states
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Buyers can bundle with homeowners, renters, and other insurance products
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Offers some of the most competitive auto insurance rates
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Claims adjusters may be able to reduce or eliminate deductibles on some claims
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Customer satisfaction varies across products
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Claims process may be longer than some competitors based on customer reviews

GEICO offers auto, homeowners, and life insurance. It's been around since 1936 and generally offers some of the lowest rates. However, customer satisfaction may be an issue.

• Discounts for safe driving, good grades, military, and more
• Available in all 50 states

If you want competitive and affordable car insurance rates, look no further than GEICO . According to the company website, you could save up to $500 by switching to GEICO. Customers can confirm the pricing in minutes with online quotes. With 85 years in the industry, GEICO offers affordable premiums and can be a good fit for those with poor credit.

To keep prices low, GEICO also offers numerous discounts to drivers, including discounts for safety devices like anti-lock brakes, seat belt use, defensive driving courses, and being a good student. In addition, policies can be managed online or via GEICO's app with 24/7 access to all policy documents.

The reviews we saw indicated GEICO's claims team was similarly quick, with a few mentions of adjusters who took additional steps to minimize or eliminate policyholders' out-of-pocket costs in a claim. From what we've gathered, rate hikes after an accident seem small compared to many other discount car insurance companies.

Read our GEICO Auto Insurance review here.

Best for military: USAA

Offers numerous discounts and get up to 30% off

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Low rates for eligible buyers
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Coverage is available in all 50 states and Washington, DC
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Auto policies can be bundled with other insurance plans and financial products
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Only available to military, veterans, and their families.
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Claims may take longer than with some other providers

USAA Auto Insurance could be a great option if you're a current or former military member; no one else is eligible. Coverage is available in all 50 states, and premiums are generally affordable.

• USAA auto insurance is open to the military, veterans, and their families
• Discounts for safe driving and more

USAA offers financial products and services to the military community, including competitive auto insurance. Though USAA products aren't available to everyone, those eligible won't find cheaper coverage elsewhere. Drivers who switched to USAA could save an average of $725 per year, according to USAA's website.

USAA offers standard car insurance options like liability, collision, comprehensive coverage, and uninsured and underinsured coverage. Optional coverage includes roadside assistance and rental reimbursement. USAA also sells home, pet, and life insurance, to name a few. So bundling insurance products is extremely common for military members and their families.

USAA also has plenty of discounts that only make sense for military members. For example, you could get up to a 15% discount when your vehicle is parked in a garage on base. You can also qualify for savings if you store your car or drive infrequently (which may apply to active duty military members being deployed).

Bundling home and auto insurance coverage with USAA gives policyholders a 10% discount. Setting up automatic payments for your car insurance premiums can reduce premiums by an additional 3%. If you insure two cars or more or your teen driver has good grades, you may be eligible for other discounts. USAA also has an app and offers 24/7 support online. USAA is unique in that whether you have a strong driving record or tickets and DUIs, USAA will still beat the nearest competitor's quote.

Read our USAA Car Insurance review here.

Best for teen drivers: State Farm

Offers many discounts, including good student discounts for high school and college students

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Nationwide presence
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. High customer satisfaction and claims satisfaction rankings
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Discounts for bundling insurance products
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Quotes are only available through captive agents (who only quote State Farm)
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Pricing may be higher or products unavailable for high-risk drivers
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Rates may rise quickly for households with teen drivers

State Farm auto insurance offers coverage across all 50 states and Washington, DC. It has comprehensive, collision, and liability coverage along with less common options like rideshare coverage.

Given the increased risk factors, car insurance for teen drivers can be costly. Teen drivers don't have the same levels of experience behind the wheel and may engage in risky driving behaviors. In fact, car crashes are the top cause of teen deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .

Experts recommend adding any licensed driver in your home as soon as you know they'll drive your car regularly. State Farm has excellent options for teen drivers. It offers a Good Student Discount of up to 25%. Also, you could get another discount if your teen driver is under 21 and takes a qualifying driver's ed course. There's also a unique option to save if your teen driver has a car at home but moved away for school through the Student Away at School Discount.

The Steer Clear discount offers young drivers below 25 up to a 15% discount with no at-fault accidents or moving violations in the previous three years. In addition, if you're willing to use State Farm's Drive Safe & Save app, you may qualify for up to a 30% discount.

Along with its liability, collision, and comprehensive coverage, State Farm offers emergency roadside service, rideshare coverage, and other auto coverages. You can work with one of its many insurance agents nationwide to find the best coverage for you and your teen driver.

Read our State Farm Auto Insurance review here.

Best for discounts: Farmers Insurance

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Diverse coverage options for qualified buyers
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Wide array of discounts and bundling options
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Available in all 50 states and Washington, DC
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Prices may not be competitive against many budget auto insurance companies
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Online quoting may not be as easy as some competitors

Farmers Insurance is a full-service insurer offering home, life, business, and auto insurance with a long list of discounts compared to other insurance providers. Farmers offers up to 23 discounts when many other providers provide fewer than 12.

Policyholders paying premiums in full, senior drivers taking safe driving training, California drivers driving hybrids or electric vehicles, homeowners, good students, and young drivers are just a few groups enjoying discounts on auto insurance with Farmers. You also stand to save up to 20% by bundling plans or qualify for another discount insuring multiple vehicles.

Along with liability, collision, and comprehensive, Farmers offers umbrella policies to boost coverage on multiple plans (if you're bundling). All plans can be managed through the Farmers app.

Read our Farmers Auto Insurance review here.

Best for teachers: Liberty Mutual Insurance

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Quotes can be obtained online or through a Liberty Mutual or broker agent
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Bundling discounts are available for interested buyers
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Discounts for young drivers may require more paperwork
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Rates may not be competitive for higher risk drivers
• Get up to 30% in savings with the RightTrack program
• Military members receive a discount
• Specialized coverage for teachers
• Required coverage for vehicles traveling to Mexico

Many teachers enjoy lower prices, more perks, and greater customer satisfaction with Liberty Mutual car insurance. The company has coverage for teachers, though some plans are unavailable in some states.

Perks include a $0 deductible on collision coverage if you get into an accident during school hours or while working (ex: a coach driving to another school for an after-school sports game). Teachers also enjoy up to $2,500 in personal property coverage if teaching items or school-owned items are damaged or stolen. In addition, Liberty Mutual automatically applies a $0 deductible when qualifying cars are vandalized on school property or when driving on school-specific business.

Through Liberty Insurance, you can get typical collision or comprehensive coverage. It also offers optional coverages like original parts replacement coverage, gap coverage, 24-hour roadside assistance coverage, rental car reimbursement coverage, and more.

Unlike competitors, Liberty Mutual also has a Liberty Mutual Deductible Fund®. You pay $30 toward the deductible fund each year, and Liberty Mutual drops your deductible by $100. If you file a claim, the fund can lower out-of-pocket costs. You can download the company's app to check in with your policy or file a claim.

Read our Liberty Mutual Car Insurance review here.

Best for accident forgiveness: Progressive

Offers personalized rate based on driving

• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Coverage available in all 50 states
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Discounts for bundling insurance products with competitive rates
• Check mark icon A check mark. It indicates a confirmation of your intended interaction. Highly rated with JD Power and AM Best
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Rates may jump significantly after your first accident or for higher risk drivers
• con icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. Mixed reviews on claims and customer service on sites like Consumer Affairs and TrustPilot

A highly ranked and long-standing insurance company, Progressive offers auto, home, motorcycle, and other insurance across the United States.

• Ranked #17 out of 18 in auto claims satisfaction
• Bundling, vehicle safety, and student driver discounts
• Name your price tool

Accidents happen, and the best car insurance companies can help. But rates inevitably rise after even a minor accident. Progressive notably offers accident forgiveness to qualifying drivers. Its three types of accident forgiveness coverage include the following:

• Small Accident Forgiveness. This option is available to new Progressive customers in most states through the Loyalty Rewards program and won't increase your premiums if your claim is at or below $500. This said, it's worth noting that when deciding whether to file a claim, you should always consider your deductible and how much your insurance will pay.
• Large Accident Forgiveness. Customers in most states may qualify for this option through the Loyalty Rewards program. Drivers eligible for Large Accident Forgiveness won't see increased rates even if claims exceed $500. You must be a Progressive customer for five consecutive years with no accident or moving violations within that time frame.
• Progressive Accident Forgiveness. You may qualify to have one accident forgiven in a specific period, but you can buy additional accident forgiveness through this program. In a sense, you are prepaying to keep your rates consistent if you're involved in an accident. Check if your state qualifies, as it's not available everywhere.

You can obtain liability, collision, and comprehensive coverage through Progressive. Interestingly, Progressive specifies if your pet is injured and you have collision coverage, your policy will cover some vet expenses.

It also offers gap coverage, rental car reimbursement coverage, custom parts and equipment value, rideshare coverage, and roadside assistance. Progressive also has a Name Your Price option that allows you to state your desired price, and the website will show what's available. You can also use their mobile app or contact Progressive agents for support.

Read our Progressive Car Insurance review here.

Best Car Insurance Frequently Asked Questions

State Farm is highly ranked in many JD Power surveys and maintains the highest market share of any auto insurance company in the United States. The company is known for exclusive insurance quoted only by State Farm agents. However, it is outperformed in some areas by smaller regional carriers. Some insurers are even limited to just one state, like 21st Century auto insurance , which only serves California.

JD Power's latest auto claims satisfaction study shows Amica Mutual earned the top spot. In JD Power's auto insurance study, regions were won primarily by smaller local carriers like Wawanesa in California and Erie Insurance in the mid-Atlantic. The best car insurance company may also vary based on the coverage you want.

The average cost of car insurance will vary depending on your location and other factors. Many auto insurance companies offer discounts for safe driving, especially if you're willing to install an app to track certain driving behaviors. Paying your premium in full instead of month-by-month also reduces rates. One of the best ways to reduce costs is by getting multiple quotes to compare quotes. 

The easiest way to compare quotes is by working with a licensed independent insurance agent. They can run quotes, compare prices and coverage so you know you're getting the best value. Some customers also prefer to go online. Companies like GEICO, Progressive, and Lemonade offer online-only quotes to give consumers back control.

For car insurance market share, State Farm's biggest competitor is GEICO. According to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), State Farm has 16.84% of the U.S. auto insurance market share, the highest of any insurer. Next up on the list is GEICO, with 14.05% market share. Both insurers are available throughout the U.S.

Why You Should Trust Us: How We Chose the Best Car Insurance Companies

To determine the best auto insurance companies, we compare numerous factors included in our insurance rating methodology . These include affordability, customer satisfaction, coverage options, optional coverage, benefits for policyholders, financial strength, and accessibility. No single factor accounts for everything consumers need; not all auto insurance companies are created the same.

We compared quotes, customer reviews, financial stability, and the company's history. With all these factors combined, we rate numerous competitors to see which companies rise to the top. 

Auto insurance, in particular, is primarily run on a state and regional basis. In short, most auto insurance providers are only licensed in some states. As such, the best car insurance companies for a driver in New York may differ from the best option for similar drivers in California.

We use numerous sources to get an objective view of each provider. Our reviews are not sponsored by the companies being reviewed. Each review reflects our opinion based solely on the facts gathered. Reviews may be updated as facts change (for example, JD Power rankings are updated when new reports are released). However, requests from insurers that conflict with public-facing websites are not factored into our reviews.

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards .

Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.

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Texans encouraged to turn off nighttime lights during bird migration

As millions of migratory birds travel north for the spring, conservationists ask residents to dim their lights to reduce the risk of light pollution..

By Miriam Fauzia

10:08 AM on Apr 30, 2024 CDT

Look up at the night sky over the next few weeks and you might catch a glimpse of an avian superhighway.

Migratory birds like whooping cranes and tiny songbirds are making their seasonal flights over Texas to northern breeding grounds, with peak migration occurring from April 22 to May 12, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. Nearly two billion birds of around 400 different species travel over the state each spring.

To help ensure their safe passage, Texans are encouraged to dim their lights as part of “Lights Out, Texas! ”

The biannual campaign was launched as a statewide effort in 2020 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and BirdCast , a project that uses machine learning to help scientists predict how birds migrate based on weather patterns. That launch came a year after a study found Dallas to be the third most dangerous city in the United States for avian migration.

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Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s office has partnered with the campaign and local businesses starting in 2020 to reduce light pollution during the fall and spring migration seasons. Downtown skyscrapers such as Whitacre Tower, one of AT&T’s corporate headquarters, and Reunion Tower have participated in the effort.

Nearly 80% of all North American birds migrate every spring and fall and around 70% of those birds are nocturnal travelers. The greatest obstacle during migration is light pollution, especially artificial light from urban areas, says Tania Homayoun , an ornithologist at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Scientists aren’t sure why that’s the case, but some research suggests that light pollution acts as an ecological trap , luring and throwing birds off course. Reflective glass on buildings like those in downtown Dallas and other city centers can further disorient a bird’s senses.

Birds don’t see glass as humans do, Homayoun says. “The cues that tell us that there is likely to be a window there or a glass door, birds don’t innately have those cues. … Sometimes they don’t see the glass or sometimes they see what they think is a reflection of trees and the sky that they can fly into.”

Some estimates suggest that anywhere from 388 million to 965 million birds die annually in the United States from building collisions. That comes out to about 12 to 30 deaths per second. As light pollution in North America grows by up to 10% annually , the number of fatalities could increase.

In 2017 , Nashville and Blackburnian warblers were among the 20 species of migratory birds that died after colliding with a 32-story skyscraper in downtown Galveston. In 2023 , nearly 1,000 migratory songbirds died after crashing into a mostly glass convention center in Chicago. Songbirds tend to fly at a lower altitude than other birds, Homayoun says, putting them at a greater risk of being drawn off course.

In downtown Dallas, the 37-story Whitacre Tower is dimming its exterior lights by 50% each night through May 12 from 6 to 11 p.m. during the peak of spring migration, AT&T spokesman Matthew Lawson said in an email. The building will completely turn off its exterior lights from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. and then turn them back on at 50% brightness until sunrise.

Reunion Tower , the 50-story observation tower in downtown, is following a similar schedule, spokeswoman Jenna Guinn said in an email.

“Although our lights and light shows make us the icon of Dallas, we are more than happy to continue to participate in this [initiative] and help out our city in any way possible,” Guinn wrote.

“I’m sure every bit helps our feathered friends!”

It’s hard to gauge how dimming lights during migration season has helped birds in Texas because there’s not enough historical data to analyze, Homayoun says. But studies of efforts elsewhere have shown promising signs. A 2021 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that darkening windows of a large urban building in Chicago reduced bird collisions by 60% over a 20-year period. In Portland, Ore., the number of birds colliding into a governmental building dropped by 94% over a one-year period after the building’s glass windows were retrofitted with bird-safe film to reduce reflectivity.

On the iNaturalist app, volunteers can help monitor bird collisions and deaths by reporting their observations or taking photos , Homayoun says. And BirdCast’s live migration tracker allows users to follow the northward sojourn of migratory birds.

Miriam Fauzia is a science reporting fellow at The Dallas Morning News. Her fellowship is supported by the University of Texas at Dallas. The News makes all editorial decisions.

Miriam Fauzia . Miriam Fauzia is a science reporting fellow at The Dallas Morning News. She previously has written for USA Today, The Daily Beast, Inverse, The New York Times, and others. Her fellowship is supported by the University of Texas at Dallas. The News makes all editorial decisions.

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