Destination Crisis Management Communications During Uncertainty: The Case of Athens

ABSTRACT During periods of high uncertainty and volatility it is important for tourism destinations to have the ability to employ effective crisis management communications. The study concerns the examination of the derived chaordic (chaos vs order) systems formulating the tourism crisis communications in metropolitan areas, with special reference to the city of Athens. The research uses a sample of 400 adult permanent residents of Athens, and investigates the simple conditions of government trust, security, destination image, competition, information technology, and destination safety by using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The findings reveal five sufficient configurations (destination characteristics; destination safety; destination competitiveness; state information management; IT and ICT destination dependency) that can lead the destination to the efficient employment of crisis management communications. The study contributes to the theoretical and methodological domains, whilst it offers several managerial implications.