Artificial Intelligence in Tourism and Hospitality Crisis and Disaster Management

This study investigates the underexplored role of artificial intelligence (AI) in tourism crisis anddisaster management. While AI has been extensively adopted in tourism to enhance personalizationand efficiency, its integration into crisis contexts remains limited. Drawing on Mitroff’s five-phasemodel of crisis management, the research employs qualitative interviews with 20 global experts toexplore AI applications across signal detection, preparation, containment, recovery, and learning.Findings highlight AI’s potential in early warning systems, risk modeling, automated communication, and postcrisis recovery strategies. However, ethical concerns, data privacy issues, and unevenaccess to technological resources present significant barriers. Larger tourism organizations arebetter positioned to adopt AI solutions, whereas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facechallenges such as high implementation costs and limited digital capacity. The study highlights theimportance of implementing inclusive policies and developing capacity-building initiatives to ensureequitable technological integration. It offers novel insights into AI’s potential to strengthen resiliencein the tourism sector.