Factors Influencing Organizational Resilience of Tourism Businesses
Abstract
Background and purpose
With ongoing disruptions that affect various sectors, understanding organizational resilience is crucial, especially in tourism businesses. However, studies focusing on organizational resilience often lack objective data and rely on subjective opinions. Even fewer studies combine company data with insights from managers. Therefore, this study aims to explore resilience factors in tourism businesses and strategies used by less resilient ones during the COVID-19 crisis.
Methods
This study used a mixed-method approach to explore organizational resilience, combining company data analysis with insights from tourism managers. Quantitatively, data from 624 Slovakian tourism businesses were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, binary logistic regression, and survival analysis to explore resilience factors. Based on this, qualitative interviews with 10 managers of less resilient businesses examined crisis coping strategies.
Results
The findings reveal that business size and age are significant predictors of resilience, with larger and newer businesses demonstrating a higher probability of maintaining or recovering pre-pandemic revenue levels. Regarding financial indicators, the analysis suggests that rapid debt growth may represent a potential vulnerability. In addition, accommodation services were found to be generally more resilient than restaurants and travel agencies. Qualitative results highlight that less resilient businesses frequently employed coping strategies such as renegotiating financial terms, reducing staff, and temporary closures.
Conclusion
Tourism stakeholders should take these implications into account and assess the key factors that may strengthen organizational resilience.
© 2026 Matúš Marciš, Eva Zabudská, Diana Kvasnová, Ľudmila Mazúchová, published by University of Maribor
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.