Communicating natural hazard risks to Chinese visitors: a case study from New Zealand

Abstract

IntroductionResearch has shown that tourists are vulnerable to natural hazards during their travels. For this reason, communicating potential natural hazard risks to tourists prior to, and during, their journeys plays an important role in helping visitors safely navigate the natural hazards they may encounter. Tourists have different levels of vulnerability, depending on a range of personal, cultural and experiential factors, so risk communication must be appropriately targetted to particular markets. This research investigates supply side stakeholders' perceptions of the awareness of, and preparedness for, natural hazard risks amongst Chinese visitors to the West Coast of the South Island (Aotearoa New Zealand), and assesses the effectiveness of current risk communication processes and content for Chinese visitors.MethodsThe research questions are addressed through semi-structured interviews with representatives of government agencies and tourism businesses directly and/or indirectly involved in managing Chinese tourists' experiences and risk communication in the region, and supplemented with documentary analysis of strategy documents, social media and website resourcesResultsApplying a Mental Models Approach, results reveal that informants have relatively similar perspectives on Chinese tourists' awareness of natural hazard risks, irrespective of the nature of their interaction with the Chinese market, however there are some differences in their views of who should be responsible for risk communcation, and when and how that should be delivered.DiscussionChinese tourists' awareness and preparedness for natural hazards tends to be influenced by contextual differences more than cultural differences, and this is better understood by tourism stakeholders with personal contact with these tourists. There are perceived barriers to improving natural hazard risk preparedness, including the over-reliance on signage, and tourism stakeholders' reticence about sharing too much information about natural hazard risks with potential, or actual, visitors.