Natural Disasters

Natural disasters occur all around the world, some regularly or repeatedly in the same areas and others almost at random. Depending on the scale and nature of the event there may be huge impacts on people and places. Tourism and leisure activities may be affected and local or regional economies significantly reduced.

While calamities may be due to nature, many so-called natural disasters are triggered, at least in part, by human activities in the environment. Some natural disasters are sudden, catastrophic events; others represent gradually almost imperceptible declines. The impacts of natural disasters on tourism and tourism potential are hugely significant and remain unpredictable and problematic. Historic events such as the destruction of Pompeii by the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, in time, generated ...