Crisis communication and (unintended) impact on policy

Calls for tourism research to have a wider impact abound. From editorial efforts to question the relevance of tourism research for society (Jafari & McCabe, 2024; Jones & Walmsley, 2022), to detailed analysis of impact case studies submitted to the British Research Excellence Framework (REF) (Brauer et al., 2019; Thomas & Ormerod, 2017; Viana-Lora, 2025). These efforts reflect a collective belief that tourism research has unrealized power to improve our societal wellbeing. The main purpose of this commentary is to reflect on our journey to generate wider impact for our article (Hang et al., 2020) published in the Annals. By sharing what worked for us and what did not, we hope our experience may be useful for fellow tourism researchers who share the same passion for making a positive impact on society so we can collectively identify best practice to move forward.