Exploring disaster preparedness within hospitality industry in a region with high seismic risk: a case study of the capital region of Japan

Tourism safety and security are key prerequisites for tourists to travel. While traveling, tourists attempt to avoid tourist destinations with high risks. Hospitality industry in tourist destinations is a comprehensive industry and extremely sensitive to disasters. Disaster preparedness is one of the most efficient ways to deal with disasters and increase resilience, especially in high risk areas. By conducting surveys among the mangers of tourism sectors in the capital area of Japan, this study aims to identify the main risks that may threaten tourism businesses and investigate the state of disaster preparedness among tourism sectors in the National Capital Region of Japan. Results indicate that though more than half (63.5%) respondents of the surveys have not experienced huge earthquakes, but most respondents believe that the anticipated Tokyo Inland Earthquake would occur in the near future. Besides seismic risk, the tourism sectors in capital area of Japan are exposed to a large range of other risks. Results also reveal an overall low level of preparedness for disasters in hospitality industry. On the basis of the results, implications are discussed. It is hoped that this paper will shed light on disaster preparedness for hospitality industry.