Becky Liu-Lastres
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Are We Always Prepared? Examining Risk and Crisis Management in Tourism and Hospitality
Tourism and hospitality is a solid part of our local, domestic, and global economy . Despite its importance, the industry is vulnerable to various adverse events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Becky Liu-Lastres 's primary research interests involve risk and crisis communication and management in tourism and hospitality. Through a systematic approach, Dr. Liu-Lastres has established a research program focusing on how various stakeholders, including tourists, residents, organizations, and destinations, respond and manage emerging issues. These findings have been translated to practical implications in terms of crisis management and resilience building in tourism and hospitality.
Dr. Liu-Lastres's translation of research into strategies to promote success and resilience in the tourism and hospitality industry is another excellent example of how IUPUI's faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.
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Item Shoot, taste and post: an exploratory study of food and tourism experiences in an online image-share community(Texas A & M University Press, 2012) Liu, Bingjie; Norman, William C.; Backman, Sheila J.; Cuneo, Karen; Condrasky, MargaretThis paper presents the results from an exploratory study of food and tourism experiences in the online image-share community Flickr.comTM. The purpose of this research was to provide a description of Flickr food group members' behaviour of taking pictures of food, as well as to better understand the role of food pictures in their travel experiences. The study found that members' travel experiences were recorded and shared socially through food photography. While food images could be regarded as a trip motivator, it is hard to regard it as the primary trip purpose.Item Images of safe tourism destinations in the United States held by African Americans(PASOS, 2013) Liu, Bingjie; Pennington-Gray, Lori; Schroeder, AshleyEnsuring a safe destination is an essential factor in travelers’ decision-making, as well as a destination’s success. Recent crises have threatened perceptions of safety related to tourism. Under such circumstances, negative destination images might be produced and destination choices might be altered. Thus, understanding the effect of risk perceptions on destination image is a necessary research stream. This study examined African American travelers’ perceptions of safety related to the top three state tourism destinations in the USA. Factors that influenced perceptions of a safe destination varied among the destinations. Consistently, however, past travel experience and the perception of the likelihood of health-related crisis were significant predictors of perceptions of a safe destination.Item A Flash of Culinary Tourism: Understanding The Influences of Online Food Photography on People's Travel Planning Process on Flickr(Tourism Culture and Communication, 2013-01-24) Norman, William C.; Pennington-Gray, Lori; Liu, BingjieThis article presents the results of an exploratory study in the online image-sharing community Flickr. The purpose of this study was to profile the users who are fond of online food photography as well as to explore the role of online food photography in their traveling planning process. Grounded in “uses and gratification theory,” a mixed method was adopted for this research. Content analysis was employed to understand members' general motivation to participate in different online food photography activities. A series of chi-square and independent-sample t tests was conducted to determine if significant differences existed between active members and not-as-active members. Results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses supported each other. The findings indicated that factors of entertainment, personal identity, and social interaction were the main drivers of participation in online food photography activities. It was further revealed that participants' tourism experiences were recorded as personal photography but shared socially through the use of social media. For active members, food images influenced them in terms of novelty and providing information. Active members also appeared to be more likely to seek out new places to travel for new food experiences, and food photography had a greater influence on where they consider traveling. On the basis of the results, implications for culinary tourism promotion and destination marketing were discussed.Item Understanding the Cruise Industry’s Responses to Health-Related Crises: A Case Study Approach(TTRA, 2015-06-05) Liu, Bingjie; Pennington-Gray, LoriThe cruise industry is one of the fastest growing sectors within the tourism and hospitality industry (WTO, 2010). In spite of the increasing popularity, there has been a continued interest in traveling albeit an increased exposure to various types of health risks, such as seasickness, nausea, and foodborne disease (CDC, 2014). Oftentimes these health risks can develop into health-related crises to which both passengers and crew members are vulnerable (Henderson, 2007). The outbreak of health-related crises can exert epidemic effects on the cruise industry and therefore have catastrophic impacts (CLIA, 2014). The direct outcome normally manifests itself as damage to personal health and well-being of the traveler; while indirect outcome can take the form of customer dissatisfaction, impaired brand images of cruise lines, and distorted images of destinations (CDC, 2014; Crimson Hexagon, 2013). To cope with these challenges, scholars have highlighted the importance of crisis management practices as well as effective crisis responses (Coombs, 2014; Ritchie, 2008).Item New York City Bed Bug Crisis as Framed by Tourists on Tripadvisor(Tourism Analysis, 2015-06-17) Liu, Bingjie; Pennington-Gray, Lori; Donohoe, Holly; Omodior, OghenekaroIn New York City (NYC), one of the world's top tourism destinations, bed bugs have reemerged as a challenge to the hospitality industry regardless of a hotel's star rating, location, ranking, or other. Given this growing tourism and hospitality management problem, the purpose of this study was to understand how the NYC bed bug crisis was framed on social media by travelers and how it impacted tourist experiences of NYC. Four general narrative frames and 14 subframes were identified in the analysis and the findings confirm that bed bugs have become a real and growing concern for tourists, and they are using social media to report their bed bug experiences. The significance and implications for hotel and destination management are discussed.Item Empirically Testing the Influence of Travel Safety Concerns: Examining Alternative Models(Travel and Tourism Research Association, 2016-06-03) Liu, Bingjie; Schroeder, Ashley; Pennington-Gray, LoriTourists’ risk perceptions and perceptions of safety are important topics within the tourism literature; however, the conceptual approaches to these concepts are inconsistent. Following the risk-as-feeling hypothesis, this study proposes that: perceived severity and perceived susceptibility could be considered as tourists’ cognitive risk perceptions; perceived safety could be considered as affective risk perceptions; efficacy beliefs should also be included within the theoretical framework. To clarify the underlying relationships between these variables, six conceptual models were developed and tested using data collected from 444 U.S. citizens. In the best fitting model, perceived safety mediated the relationship between one’s travel interest and travel intentions. This mediating relationship was moderated by cognitive risk perceptions and efficacy beliefs. The findings suggest that amplified cognitive risk perceptions may affect individuals’ perceived safety and subsequent travel decisions. Accordingly, destinations should promote safety measures for tourists during times of crisis and restore tourists’ confidence in the destination.Item Industry convergence in rural tourism development: a China-featured term or a new initiative?(Taylor & Francis, 2018) Shen, Weili; Liu-Lastres, Bingjie; Pennington-Gray, Lori; Hu, Xiaohai; Liu, Jiayi; Tourism, Conventions, and Event Management, School of Health and Human SciencesIndustry convergence is a popular term that has been widely referenced in the context of rural tourism development in China. All levels of government (local, regional, national) in China have repeatedly addressed the significance of industry convergence in their tourism plans and related policies. Despite its popularity, limited studies at present have explored this concept in-depth. Using Huai’an as a case, this study applied a path analysis and reported the industry convergence process in a destination. The findings of this study can provide both theoretical and practical implications that are useful for tourism planners and policy makers.Item Cruise Line Customers’ Responses to Risk and Crisis Communication Messages: An Application of the Risk Perception Attitude Framework(Sage, 2018) Liu-Lastres, Bingjie; Schroeder, Ashley; Pennington-Gray, Lori; Tourism, Conventions, and Event Management, School of Health and Human SciencesThe main purpose of this study was to test cruise line customers’ responses to risk and crisis communication messages addressing health-related incidents on cruise ships. This study used norovirus infections as the context and the Risk Perception Attitude framework as the conceptual foundation. An experiment was conducted to test how communication messages affected cruise line customers’ information search behavior, safety perceptions, and cruise travel intentions. A total of 240 responses were included and analyzed. The results revealed group differences on the three outcome variables. The results also showed that safety perceptions mediated the relationship between participants’ RPAs and cruise travel intentions. Based on the findings, this study provided practical implications on how to develop effective risk and crisis communication messages. This study also highlighted the need for more empirical and theory-driven research in the area of tourism crisis communication.Item Managing the reputation of cruise lines in times of crisis A review of current practices(Goodfellow Publishers, 2019) Liu-Lastres, Bingjie; Johnson, Amy M.The cruise industry is one of the fastest growing sectors within the tourism and hospitality industry. Reputation serves as one of cruise lines’ key assets, as it can affect customers’ attitude, perceptions, and travel decisions. The onset of a crisis on cruise lines not only can negatively impact passengers and crew members, but also can damage the cruise lines’ reputations, which can lead to bad publicity, distorted brand image, and revenue loss. To cope with these challenges, scholars have highlighted the importance of crisis management practices as well as effective crisis responses. Accordingly, the purpose of this book chapter is to examine cruise lines current crisis management/crisis response strategies. Guided by the Situational Crisis Communication Theory, a total of 14 responses from major cruise lines between 2013 to 2017 were collected and analyzed. The results of this study revealed mixed findings --most cruise lines have adopted the most appropriate reputational management strategies, while failing to provide enough public safety information. Based on the findings, further discussions on how to effectively respond to major incidents on cruise ships and to protect organizational reputation during crisis times were included.Item Exploring inbound tourists experience in Beijing, China: an online deductive approach(Emerald, 2019) Liu, Yu; Liu-Lastres, Bingjie; Wang, Qiuju; Fu, Yao-Yi; Tourism, Conventions, and Event Management, School of Physical Education and Tourism ManagementPurpose Beijing is becoming one of the top global destinations but the number of international tourists to the city has been declining recently. By analyzing inbound tourists experience in Beijing and identifying the relationship between the destination attributes and satisfaction, the purpose of this paper is to provide important insights into city tourism research and city destination development. Design/methodology/approach This study used an online deductive approach and collected 1,254 reviews on TripAdvisor referencing major attractions in Beijing. This study used the Leximancer software to analyze the content of the reviews and to identify the underlying relationships. Findings The results showed that international tourists’ experience in Beijing can be reflected via five aspects: attractions, city, transportation, service and people. The results further indicated that the major concern of international tourists visiting Beijing related to the service quality on site. Originality/value This study explored inbound tourists experience in Beijing using an online deductive approach. Practical implications were provided with respect to improving international tourists experience in Beijing and enhancing their satisfaction and revisiting intentions.
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