Tourism business resilience in the time of war: The first three months following Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

While armed conflict and war remain a reality in the 21st century, there is a notable lack of knowledge about the role and potential of tourism in the well-being of war-affected communities and people (Dolnicar and McCabe, 2022; McGahey, 2006). The issue is particularly relevant in light of the Russian Federation's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022. In this study, we examine the responses of tourism businesses in the westernmost of Ukraine's 24 administrative regions, Zakarpattia, during the first three months after the invasion through the prism of organizational resilience. In doing so, we offer an insight into the first and arguably most critical responses of tourism entities to the exogenous shocks of wartime in a rear area. We thus complement tourism research on organizational resilience, which to date has focused primarily on natural disasters and the recent COVID-19 pandemic (Ritchie and Jiang, 2019; Yang et al., 2021).