Recovery and reconstruction after a natural disaster, using a territorial marketing approach

The aim of the paper is to investigate the needs of territories hit by natural disasters, in which marketing approaches can represent ways of providing a valuable and effective response and recovery, in the tourism sector. A qualitative analysis was conducted to specify and better identify the state of the territories before, during and after the natural disaster from the point of view of tourism companies, experts and associations. These stakeholders of the territories hit by natural disasters had further specified the contents, role and skills of a key figure for the recovery and reconstruction activities in the tourism sector. The analysis revealed that the territorial marketing approach is a valid and appropriate model for a virtuous development of the territory in the post-disaster situations. The results of the focus groups set up in Italy and Slovenia have identified a ‘spontaneous’ call to territorial marketing as a set of tools to support and solve the situations and gaps that emerge in a post-disaster situation. Indeed, territorial marketing could be applied consistently because it is possible to detect all the theoretical dimensions recognized as indispensable for its useful application. Based on these results, implications are derived for tourism destinations to develop restoration and tourism recovery strategies in the territories affected by natural disasters, such as the training of reference figures like a Tourism Recovery Expert.