3. Conclusions
Just as destinations and their demand for quality crisis management is undergoing massive evolutions, so to is the need for scholarship in this area. Never before has there been such a pressing desire to advance our knowledge of destination crisis management. This paper has tried to identify gaps in the scholarly literature and has attempted to illustrate why we need to move this area of research forward.
As a field of inquiry, destination crisis management still has a long way to go. Academic research can be a way to move the industry forward. Scholars have a responsibility to help provide new insights, new methods of inquiry, and new approaches to aid the industry, especially in times of crisis. Academic institutions have an opportunity to take a leadership role in the area of destination crisis management. Provision of empirical evidence to build an advocacy message for the industry is desperately needed all over the world. For those scholars who are focused in the area of destination crisis management, now is the time. Moving this body of knowledge forward with a clear research agenda for the industry which is theoretically and methodologically sound is the first step. It is hoped that this paper will spark some controversy, as well as encourage others to help shape the direction of this vital discipline of destination crisis management.
