Signal detection as the first line of defence in tourism crisis management

The vulnerability of the tourism industry to a range of crises has attracted many scholars to investigate the crisis strategies and practices employed by destinations and tourism organizations mainly with regards to crisis preparedness, containment and damage limitation, crisis recovery and subsequent learning. One over-looked area has been that of crisis signal detection. This paper proposes a three-stage conceptual framework for crisis signal detection consisting of signal scanning, capture and transmission to the crisis response centre. With this framework as a basis, 16 corporate level executives of international tourism organizations were interviewed in order to explore the significance of signal detection in their crisis management practice and the challenges faced in each of these three stages. The findings offer insights into the design of crisis management mechanisms and open areas for further research. ► We develop a theoretical framework on crisis signal detection. ► We test it using critical incident interviews with 16 c-suite tourism executives. ► Crisis signal detection is acknowledged as an organization's first line of defence. ► A combination of core, ad hoc and expert detector networks is necessary. ► We identify challenges in crisis signal detection and offer recommendations.