Title: Expanding the tourism crisis management planning framework to include social media: lessons from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2010

Authors: Lori Pennington-Gray; Brian London; Ignatius Cahyanto; Walter Klages

Addresses: Tourism Crisis Management Institute, College of Health and Human Performance, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 118208, USA. ' Tourism Crisis Management Institute, College of Health and Human Performance, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 118208, USA. ' Tourism Crisis Management Institute, College of Health and Human Performance, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 118208, USA. ' Research Data Services, 777 S. Harbour Island Boulevard, Suite 260, Tampa, Florida 33602, USA

Abstract: This article summarises a case study investigating the relationship between the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the response by VISIT FLORIDA_®. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill started leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April 2010 and continued to leak until it was capped on 19 September 2010. These events caused major disruptions to the region|s main tourism season, particularly the state of Florida. A case study was undertaken to demonstrate: 1) best practices learned from the crisis 2) the role of social media in the crisis 3) an expanded framework to incorporate the role of social media within the four phases of crisis management planning. A survey of 1,286 travellers to the state of Florida was conducted three times during the most active time of the spill, as well as a review of government and organisational reports and personal conversations with VISIT FLORIDA_® employees were used to guide the case study.

Keywords: crises; best practices; DMO; destination management organisation; crisis management; planning frameworks; social media; internet; world wide web; mobile technologies; blogs; blogging; social networking; networks; Deepwater Horizon; oil spills; BP; British Petroleum; Gulf of Mexico; drilling rigs; Florida; USA; United States; oil leaks; tourism seasons; coastlines; travellers; anthropology; tourist industry; tourists; risk; marine disasters; disaster management; emergency management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTA.2011.043708

International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, 2011 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.239 - 253

Published online: 31 Jan 2015 *

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