Chapter 16: Tourism Behaviours as a Proactive Contribution to Social Balances of Destinations

Commonly, a crisis or disaster disturbing tourism reveals as an event or set of conditions, which compromise the market potential and reputation of the businesses and destinations (PATA, 2011). Much of the scientific literature on crisis management in tourism is founded on natural hazards and physical mitigations strategies (Hall, Malinen, Vosslamber, & Wordsworth, 2016; Ritchie & Campiranon, 2015), which is understandable since the intrinsic aspects that the tourism industry is built upon are often vulnerable to natural hazards. However, this work focuses on man-made social, cultural and environmental threats in tourist destinations which require preparedness not only from the public sector but also of all industry actors, including tourists, to ensure continuity and improvement of the sustainable development of the destination. More specifically, the goal of this research is, on one hand, to highlight the interaction between tourists and local communities as a social tool to propose them a convergence of mutual advantages with positive impacts on destinations and, on the other hand, to assess tourists' environmental awareness, enlightening the contradictory relationship between the representation of tourists and the environment.