2. What are the potential and actual effects for travel organizations arising from this crisis? How are and/or can organizations modify their ‘inputs’ and ‘throughputs’ to minimize negative outcomes from the crises and for each other? Can these interventions be regarded as effective?

(Tip: While you are encouraged to carry out further and more up-to-date research to do full justice to this task, the case study provides sufficient material for a good discussion to take place). March 2014 saw the start of the largest and, it is claimed, the most aggressive outbreak of Ebola in history. There have been more cases (13,000) and deaths (5000) in this one outbreak than in all previous outbreaks of the disease combined. The three most affected countries at the time of writing have been Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. However, cases have also been reported in Nigeria, Senegal, the USA and Spain (a nurse in Spain became the first person to contract the virus outside West Africa in October 2014). The virus took hold in major urban areas, allowing it to spread more easily, and sadly the areas most severely affected had inferior health systems and lacked the resources (doctors, nurses and equipment) to combat the virus.