Enesi Majebi | An investigation of stakeholders' strategies for external crisis preparedness: The Nigerian tourism industry perspectives

Supervisors: Dr Simon Woodward and Dr Davina Stanford 

Enesi is is a part-time off-shore PhD student in the Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Management.

My research evaluates stakeholders’ strategies for external crisis management and preparedness in the tourism sectors of a developing economy like Nigeria that has experienced different crisis incidents, including terror attacks and recurrent violent conflicts that can affect her tourism sectors. My study employed a qualitative case study approach to explore the crisis prevention, response and recovery strategies being employed by stakeholders (i.e. hotel managers, destination management and security officials) in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, and Jos, another city. I identified a range of recommendations for the case study stakeholders, who were mostly found to be deficient in appropriate crisis preparedness measures. One of the key suggestions was for stakeholders to adopt or develop formal crisis management and preparedness plans, and complete risk assessments on their organisations and destinations for effective crisis management and preparedness, based on the Tourism Industry Integrated Crisis Management and Preparedness Framework (TIICMPF) that I developed on the basis of my findings. Although the TIICMPF is developed for the Nigerian tourism sectors, it can have broader appeal to destinations and organisations experiencing similar crises and threats.