Sars and the Taiwanese Hospitality Industry

The purpose of the proposed study is to examine the occupancy rates of the Taiwanese hospitality industry during the periods prior to, during, and subsequent t the outbreak of SARS that occurred in the region between November 2002 and June 2003. This information can be used by the hospitality industry in general, and the Taiwanese hospitality industry specifically, to manage future crises better and to determine the best response to such situations by examining the effects of this crisis on demand as measured by occupancy rates.

There are three primary objectives of this study. The first is to determine whether there was a significant decline in the occupancy rates in the Taiwan hospitality industry from November 2001 to June 2002, and November 2002 to May 2003. This objective will help show whether SARS--or any other factors--caused a change in the number of visitors staying in Taiwan.

The second objective is to determine whether the occupancy rates from June 2002 through November 2002 are different from the occupancy rates in June 2003 through November 2003. This objective is designed to determine whether and to what extent the occupancy rates recovered--if they dropped at all--following the lifting of the travel ban to Taiwan.

The third objective is to examine the occupancy rates during the period of the outbreak--November 2002 t

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s for this, including the desire to keep problems quiet and handled in-house. This can prevent poor publicity from getting to the outside, but it has also hampered the ability of Asian companies to manage crises when they do arise--and they are inevitable in today's global environment. While there have been calls for a change in the way that Asian companies, including the hospitality industry, manage crises, such change has been slow to be implemented. With increased consolidation in the hospitality industry, and increased presence of foreign companies, it is likely that crisis management will be implemented on a wider basis in Asia (MacKenzie, 1994). Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, appeared in Asia in late 2002 and was later found in Toronto, Canada, as well. SARS is a coronavirus, it belongs to the same family of viruses that causes up to 30 percent of the common colds in the United States. However, SARS has been a particularly virulent and deadly disease. First identified in the Guandong province of China in November 2002, more than 8400 cases of SARS were confirmed worldwide by June 2003. This is not a large number of illnesses given the populations of the countries
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2689
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)