Exploration of a Disaster Risk Management Method for Tourism Destinations: The Case of Guatemala

The growing trend in tourism flows toward high-value environmental and landscape areas has led to a significant rise in nature-based tourism. More often the tourism of natural ecosystems targets remote destinations in marginal territories, resulting in a greater infrastructural gap against environmental preservation policies and strategies. Such inadequate assets represent a structural lack in “risk management” capacity towards residents’ population and temporary visitors (the tourists). The vulnerability of tourist destinations to natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions, combined with an increased exposure due to the higher presence of tourists in a specific area, pose a clear demand for risk assessment and mitigation. Furthermore, temporary visitors face heightened risks level due to limited hazard awareness, insufficient preparedness, and inadequate access to early warning systems. This issue is particularly relevant in countries experiencing rapid tourism growth accompanied by inadequate investments in disaster risk management frameworks. One relevant case is Guatemala, ranked among the top ten fastest-growing global destinations in 2024, with a 33% increase in tourist arrivals compared to 2019. However, its environmental landscape, featuring 37 volcanoes (four active), poses significant threats to visitor safety with potentially negative impacts on the success of running tourism development strategies and investments in the country. Consequently, this study examines the integration of disaster risk assessments into the sustainable tourism sector, focusing on robust digital tools and methods to evaluate risk exposure of the tourism system. The research discusses tourists’ risk perception and the effectiveness of current early warning systems. Using Guatemala as a case study, a spatial explicit methodology to map the exposure of nature-based tourism destinations to volcanic and natural hazards is explored to identify effective potential evacuation routes. Results reveal spatial disparities in disaster vulnerability, underscoring the need for improved integrated strategies for tourism sector development and risk management. The outcome of this preliminary study can be considered in similar contexts for the enhancement of emergency preparedness for temporary visitors. Further research into this topic can contribute to strengthening the link between tourism planning and disaster resilience, as an essential measure to ensure visitor safety and sustaining tourism in hazard-prone destinations.