Title: Festival chatbot for tourism engagement and disaster management communication

Authors: Sharon Treesa Abraham; V.T. Bindu

Addresses: Department of Tourism Management, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Tourism Management, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Disaster management in tourism is a complicated and risk-involved process. This study is developed as a practical action plan for disaster communication and preparedness in the tourism industry. Authors have created a festival chatbot - Cultural Festive Pick - that communicates to the users on 12 festivals from the South Indian States - Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana - with their mythology, significance, cuisines, location, and duration. Only a few studies aimed to provide the state of knowledge of disaster communication and preparedness. This paper attempts to address the problem, narrow the existing gap, and suggest how technology helps in future tourism challenges. The chatbot is a knowledge database of South Indian festivals and a facilitator for disaster management in a destination. This article provides a unique solution to the tourism industry by highlighting the importance of tourism crisis communication by including a disaster management element in the festival chatbot.

Keywords: disaster management; tourism; disaster awareness and communication; chatbot; South Indian festivals.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2025.149162

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2025 Vol.30 No.2/3, pp.104 - 119

Received: 02 Feb 2023
Accepted: 25 Sep 2023
Published online: 16 Oct 2025 *

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