An Investigation into the Tourism Industry in the Post-Pandemic Era: The Resilience of Organisational Responses in a Turbulent Environment and the Adaptability of Tourist Behaviour to External Disruptions

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the tourism industry’s vulnerability to prolonged external shocks while creating opportunities for structural transformation. This thesis addresses the theoretical gap concerning how tourism organisations adjust slack resource attributes to build resilience and how customer travel behaviours adapt in both short- and long-term contexts under crisis conditions. Drawing on the resource-based view and resilience theory, the study develops an integrated framework linking organisational resource management strategies with evolving customer risk perceptions and behavioural responses. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Nineteen semi-structured interviews with tourism managers in China and the UK examined how organisations restructure and redeploy slack resources across different disruption phases. In parallel, 518 survey responses from customers in six countries explored orientation factors behind short-term and long-term shifts in travel booking behaviours. Findings reveal that resource management strategies are dynamic, involving cyclical adjustments to slack resource attributes that strengthen organisational resilience. Meanwhile, customers’ adaptive behaviours are shaped by perceived risks and show distinct decision patterns across timeframes. The research highlights how organisational strategies and customer adaptations interact through feedback loops, advancing theory by connecting RBV with consumer behaviour under crisis contexts. Practically, this study proposes evidence-based guidance for tourism managers to refine resource planning and flexibility and helps practitioners understand customer preferences and trust drivers to better navigate future disruptions.