The Impact of Disasters on a Heritage Tourist Destination: A Case Study of Nepal Earthquakes

Jihye Min, Birendra Kc, Seungman Kim and Jaehoon Lee
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Jihye Min: College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism, University of North Texas, Chilton Hall 331, 410 S Avenue C, Denton, TX 76201, USA
Birendra Kc: College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism, University of North Texas, Chilton Hall 331, 410 S Avenue C, Denton, TX 76201, USA
Seungman Kim: College of Education, Texas Tech University, 3002 18th Street, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
Jaehoon Lee: College of Education, Texas Tech University, 3002 18th Street, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: This study examines the degree of macroeconomic recovery of the Nepal tourism industry after a natural disaster using the autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA). The study investigated the case of Nepal’s earthquakes in 2015 and examined the impact of the earthquakes on tourism inflows and GDP using time series data from 1990 to 2018. The results show that the increasing trend in the number of tourists changes in the post-earthquake period. In particular, the excess in tourist demand by age and purpose of visits after the earthquake indicates natural disaster as a potential reason for a tourism demand boost, often described as dark tourism in literature. This research shows the process of a heritage tourist destination assessing macroeconomic recovery from a natural disaster and fills the gap in the literature regarding purpose-based tourism demand and a link between dark tourism and disaster recovery on a heritage tourism destination.

Keywords: dark tourism; disaster economic impact; ARIMA; destination resilience; disaster recovery; heritage tourist destination; Nepal earthquakes; destination crisis management; disaster image restoration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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