ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY AND CRISIS IN TOURISM OPERATIONS: MEASURES TO BE TAKEN AGAINST CRISIS

TURİZM İŞLETMELERİNDE EKONOMİK SÜRDÜRÜLEBİLİRLİK VE KRİZLER: KRİZLERE KARŞI ALINABİLECEK ÖNLEMLER

Abstract

Sustainable tourism can be expressed as preserving the resources that enable the existence of the tourism event to be transmitted to future generations. In other words, sustainable tourism can be expressed as an attempt to provide touristic supply and demand continuity. This understanding brought about by the concept of sustainable development, aims at making tourism production and consumption taking into consideration the factors of economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and cultural sustainability. These factors, which form sustainable tourism, affect each other and are affected by each other. It would not be right to think of tourism as an economic sector separate from cultural objects and environmental beauty. In terms of tourism businesses, economic sustainability depends on ensuring environmental and cultural sustainability. In addition to this, another factor affecting economic sustainability in tourism enterprises is the natural, economic, political and political events in the world or the country in which the destination is located, namely crises. Crises with opportunities and threats are becoming a very important issue for business management. In this context, crisis management is an important issue that needs to focus on the behaviors and strategies of the managers in the crisis environment. From the perspective of the tourism sector, crises are extremely important in terms of businesses in the sector. For this purpose, in this study measures that can be taken against the crises in tourism business, which are one of the most important obstacles to economic sustainability, especially in recent years, have been examined and evaluated. In the study, the measures; strategic measures, production and marketing strategies, management and organizational strategies and financial measures, taken or taken in order to provide economic sustainability in the crisis environment of tourism enterprises are discussed Sustainable tourism can be expressed as preserving the resources that enable the existence of the tourism event to be transmitted to future generations. In other words, sustainable tourism can be expressed as an attempt to provide touristic supply and demand continuity. This understanding brought about by the concept of sustainable development, aims at making tourism production and consumption taking into consideration the factors of economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and cultural sustainability. These factors, which form sustainable tourism, affect each other and are affected by each other. It would not be right to think of tourism as an economic sector separate from cultural objects and environmental beauty. In terms of tourism businesses, economic sustainability depends on ensuring environmental and cultural sustainability. In addition to this, another factor affecting economic sustainability in tourism enterprises is the natural, economic and political events in the world or the country in which the destination is located, namely crises. The crisis can be defined as the moment of decision, the unexpected and unpredictable, which weakens the operator’s solvency, affects its performance, the tension that threatens the existing values and aims of the organizations that need to be answered suddenly. Crises containing opportunities and threats are a very important issue for business management. Rapid transformations in environmental factors in the global competitive environment cause enterprises to face situations that can be described as a crisis. Crises emerge due to a variety of factors and affect businesses in the negative direction. Crises may arise from national or international reasons, as well as from the business itself or the sector to which the operator is affiliated. Regardless of the scale, all businesses that have a large economic importance are affected by crises in different dimensions. Although the effects and violence are different, the business world is always confronted with crises. One of the world's fastest growing sectors, the tourism sector, is one of the major problems today is crises. The crisis in the tourism sector can be expressed as any event that occurs suddenly, has the potential to affect the tourism industry directly or indirectly, occurs naturally or is carried out by people. The crises that have taken place around the world have negative effects on the tourism sector. Economic crises in any country in the world have a negative impact on other countries that have economic relations with countries affected by the crisis. The local and global crisis in recent years has directly and indirectly affected the tourism industry and businesses operating in the tourism sector. In addition, thanks to developing technology and communication, an event happening elsewhere in the world can be spread all over the world in a short time. Even the hearing of such incidents causes the cancellation of reservations and events, which causes the tourism sector to be negatively affected. Tourism businesses are economic, social, cultural, political, international environment etc have a sensitive structure against the factors that may cause crises. The unique features of the tourism sector make the crisis issue more important in terms of tourism operations. Tourism, however, is in contact with many different industries, and it is likely that businesses operating in the sector are likely to face a crisis once it is considered that crises can occur in other sectors at any moment. In addition, a labor-intensive industry and that the excessive number of industry as it relates to tourism brings to a more open position on the crisis compared to other sectors. It can also be assumed that the impact of the crises on the tourism sector depends on the demand for tourism. Tourism demand, threatening consumer's safety of goods and life (war, terror, armed attacks, epidemics, natural disasters, etc.), suddenly emerging events, economic crises that reduce

Özet

Sürdürülebilir turizm, turizm olayının var olmasını sağlayan kaynakların korunarak gelecek nesillere aktarılması olarak ifade edilebilir. Bir başka deyişle sürdürülebilir turizm, turistik arzın ve talebin sürekliliğinin sağlanmasına çalışılması olarak ifade edilebilir. Sürdürülebilir kalkınma kavramının beraberinde getirdiği bu anlayış, turistik üretimin ve tüketimin ekonomik sürdürülebilirlik, çevresel sürdürülebilirlik ve kültürel sürdürülebilirlik faktörlerini dikkate alarak yapılmasını amaçlamaktadır. Sürdürülebilir turizmi oluşturan bu faktörler birbirini etkilemekte ve birbirinden etkilenmektedir. Turizm olayını kültürel ögelerden ve çevresel güzelliklerden ayrı bir ekonomik sektör olarak düşünmek doğru olmayacaktır. Turizm işletmeleri açısından sürdürülebilirliğin sağlanmasına bağlı olduğu söylenebilir. Bunun yanında turizm işletmelerinde ekonomik sürdürülebilirliği etkileyen bir diğer etmen ise dünyada ya da destinasyonun bulunduğu ülkede yaşanan doğal, ekonomik, siyasi ve politik olaylar yani krizlerdir. İçerisinde fırsatlar ve tehditler bulunan krizler işletme yönetimleri için oldukça önemli bir konu haline gelmektedir. Bu bağlamda kriz yönetimi, kriz ortamında yöneticilerin davranışları ve stratejileri üzerinde durulması gereken önemli bir konudur. Turizm sektörü açısından krizler sektörde yer alan işletmeler açısından son derece önemlidir. Bu amaçla bu çalışmada ekonomik sürdürülebilirliğin önünde ki en önemli engellerden birisi olan ve özellikle son yıllarda yaşanan krizler ile turizm işletmelerinde krizlere karşı alınabilecek önlemler incelenmiş ve değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmada turizm işletmelerinde kriz ortamında ekonomik sürdürülebilirliğin sağlanması için alınan veya alınabilecek önlemler; stratejik önlemler, üretim ve pazarlama stratejileri, yönetim ve organizasyon stratejileri ve finansal önlemler olarak ele alınmıştır