Tourism supply chain resilience: a multi-criteria decision-making framework

Purpose This study proposes an MCDM framework to assess tourism supply chain (TSC) resilience in Egypt amid recurrent political/security disruptions, macroeconomic volatility and strong tourism seasonality. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 146 managers, supervisors and employees was used to identify key TSC capabilities and vulnerabilities. A second survey of 24 experts across multiple TSC tiers elicited the relative importance of these factors. Interval-Valued Pythagorean Fuzzy TOPSIS (IVPFS-TOPSIS) was applied to evaluate the current level of TSC resilience (TSCRes). Findings IVPFS-derived rankings suggest that, at the aggregate model level, capabilities contribute only modestly to overall resilience, and vulnerabilities are not ranked as severe overall threats – while several partner-specific vulnerabilities remain critical. Among capability variables, Financial Reserve ranks highest as an immediate shock buffer, whereas Profit Margin ranks lowest, likely reflecting its interpretation as a volatile outcome rather than an adaptive capability. Among vulnerability variables, Information Flow shows the least impact, while Product/Service Capacity Limitation exerts the greatest disruptive effect. Results also reveal a marked resilience imbalance across TSC partners (hotels, transport operators, distributors and suppliers), with differences in the highest- and lowest-performing vulnerability variables, but broadly similar best/worst capability patterns. Originality/value By applying IVPFS-TOPSIS, the study translates weights and rankings into actionable implications: prioritize fulfilment flexibility and collaboration, strengthen visibility via traceability and secure information sharing, build financial reserves, mitigate capacity constraints and tailor interventions to each partner tier.