Voices in the storm: Analyzing MakeMyTrip's crisis communication during COVID-19 through a multivocality lens

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic's travel restrictions have created significant difficulties for travellers and online travel agencies (OTAs), such as MakeMyTrip (MMT). This research examines MMT's crisis communication during the pandemic through multivocality, using Twitter data to analyze actors, topics, emotions and interaction patterns. The results show complex relationships among travellers, government, media, airlines and MMT, revealing who assigns blame and who takes it, and displaying dominant emotions like anger, fear, anticipation and trust. Initially, MMT used denial, minimization and scapegoating as crisis response strategies but later switched to corrective action and mortification. The study advances the understanding of crisis communication by considering multivocality and interaction patterns, and its results can help organizations, particularly OTAs, understand the importance of multivocal communication during a crisis and how to respond effectively to customer complaints and concerns.