9/11, the Bali bombings, the bombings on the transport networks of Madrid and London, health
crises, the Asian tsunami, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the earthquake in New Zealand and the
earthquake and tsunami in Japan are just some of the examples of the series of ‘shocks’ that have
affected the tourism sector since 2001. The ‘shocks’ have had severe impacts on tourism across the
world. Airlines have gone into bankruptcy and tourism flows have been transformed. Crises are the
‘new normal’, seen as an inevitable part of doing business in tourism. Consequently, the tourism
sector must plan to anticipate these crises and manage the after effects better when, not if, they
occur. This case study shows how the inevitability of such ‘shocks’ and ‘wild card’ events has been
dealt with within the tourism sector and how the process of crisis management has been developed.