This study examines crisis management practices (CMPs) and their implication for sustainable tourism management on Ethiopian tour operating firms in the field of tourism development management during the global coronavirus (COVID-19) disease. The purpose of this study is to analyze how tour operating firms reacted to the crisis caused by the disease and its implication for sustainable tourism management. The present research aims to determine which operational CMPs were deployed by tour operating to diminish the impact of the crisis and to sustain tourism. This study focuses on the Ethiopian tour operating firms (tour operators-managers). A total of 193 valid face-to-face and online questionnaires were obtained from tour Operators and 10 qualitative from tour operators and tourism experts. The structured questionnaire included 22 CMPs and 12 Sustainable Tourism Management items belonging to the four dimensions of crisis management – Marketing, workforce, cost control, and organizational support CMPs, and, three dimensions of Tourism Management Sustainability– Economical, Social, and Environmental. Exploratory factor analysis, descriptive and Pearson correlation were used to investigate tour Operators-Managers responded to seeing items validity, the practice of crisis management, and association of crisis management and sustainable tourism management during COVID-19. The use of selected variables enables tour operating firms to cope with the crisis and it implies Sustainable Tourism Management. The conclusion provides suggestions for future research and useful information for scholars, policymakers, and tour Operators-Managers.

Keywords: Crisis Management; Sustainability; Ethiopia; tour operations & COVID-19