Ruth Sabina Francis, Sumitha Anantharajah, and John Umit Palabiyik
Abstract: According to Malaysia’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 Strategic Thrust 1: The Business and Industry Ecosystem, SMEs and microbusinesses are expected to contribute 50% of the country’s GDP. Service sector contributions are expected to increase by 30% within Strategic Thrust 2 Key Economic growth activities (Darmalinggam, Kaliannan, & Dorasamy, 2021). The 10th Malaysian Science, Technology, Innovation & Economic Framework (My SITE) socio-economic drivers of Culture, Arts & Tourism were identified for their potential to boost the economy through innovation in its business and financial service sectors. The plan is in line with the 11th. UN-SDG, specifically the 11.b, also aims to develop holistic disaster risk management at all levels by 2020. As a result of this global pandemic, the hospitality and tourism industry was the first to be affected, and it will be the last to recover (Fotiadis, Olyzos, & Huan, 2021). The Malaysian hotel industry suffered a significant decline in revenue due to halting of operations, travel bans and lockdowns. As a result, massive layoffs and reduction of workforce took place. Some establishments even closed down. Even though researchers and industry experts acknowledge the industry’s volatility, the importance of crisis management in the business community has not received adequate attention. There is a definite need to develop a crisis management framework, to help the Malaysian hotel industry become more resilient against crises such as pandemics. A qualitative approach will be used to develop and validate the model in this study, and quantitative analysis will be carried out to test it. The proposed crisis management model aims to support this highly vulnerable industry so that it can continue to be an important economic contributor, in line with SDG’s 11th goal.
Keywords: Hospitality industry, post-pandemic, Malaysian hotel industry