Tourism crisis
Threaten the normal operation and conduct of tourism-related business
*research more
Why the need for crisis management in destination management?
Tourism and tourists have become increasingly subjected to risks, crises and disasters
Faulkner (2001) observes that tourism destinations in every corner of the globe face the virtual certainty of experiencing a disaster of one form or another at some point in their history.
- Crisis affect the entire destination (multiplier effect)
External forces (beyond your control):
Political factors – riots
Terrorism
Personal safety (disease)
Economic factors
Environmental/natural disasters
Examples of crisis:
- Terrorism-related
- Economic-related
- Environment-related
PR team in a crisis
• According to Batchelor (2003), the PR team needs to be contacted early in a crisis
• This is to ensure that the PR team is considering:
1) The implications of the crisis, and
2) A Media-handling plan
E.g. media can be very gossipy, media got wide connection (able to source out a lot of things), prevent the wrong flow of information
Media attention in a crisis
As the tourism business relies on public confidence, resource have to be devoted (in a crisis) to maintain that confidence (Batchelor (2003))
The more the tourism business is in the public eye, the more attention you will get from the media
Sources of information for the media:
Physical evidence of the crisis (including eye witnesses)
Emergency services
Staff members
Archive reports of similar crises
PR team outputs (your weapon)
*When there is crisis, it is very important to inform the public.
*It is not wise to wait till things become very serious before breaking the news.
*Do not cover things, it is always best to be forthcoming on it and honest