Risk & Crisis Management in Tourism Sector:
Recovery from Crisis
in the OIC Member Countries
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 Individual businesses are rarely able to access up-to-date market research findings due
to the expense, so governments can disseminate this information (generally a synopsis
is sufficient) and/or run workshops to inform businesses about market developments.
This will support the private sector in product diversification and help them design
targeted promotional campaigns.
 Contracting professional PR agencies to repair reputational damage by creating positive
stories about the destination or even establishing a government department with the
remit to create and foster the country’s brand. South Africa has taken both these actions:
South African Tourism engaged a PR agency in 2014 especially to attract visitors from
European markets, and there is a dedicated government office called ‘Brand South
Africa’ which works to maintain a positive image of the country overseas (although as
noted above, this campaign backfired due to the PR company concerned working
simultaneously against the country’s interests).
 During this phase and the next it may become clear that pre-existing systems had
become inadequate to support the modern tourism industry. Thus, the UK government
reorganised its institutional tourism support system after the 2001 outbreak of Foot
and Mouth Disease once it recognised how badly the tourism sector had suffered.
The reorganisation of systems and emergence of new institutions which may take place during this
phase is typical of the ‘Exploitation’ phase of the resilience cycle, when human, social and financial
capital built up during previous phases of the cycle are exploited to create new systems. This is akin
to the advice to ‘Build Back Better’ offered to the Council of Australian Tour Operators as part of
their crisis management procedures (Beirman, 2016).
6.3.6. Recovery Phase – Long-term
Security measures to ensure the safety of tourists are a top imperative, as highlighted in the
previous phases, but unless the international market and trade are convinced of their effectiveness,
recovery will be slow. In addition to the measures already outlined, the following steps are
recommended:
 The public sector agencies responsible for tourism must ensure that close contacts are
created and maintained at government-to-government level and with the media, and at
trade level and with targeted markets and segments. At government level, dialogue
between the NTO and foreign affairs ministries of source country markets must be
maintained in order to convey transparent information on the security situation.
 Contacts with the tourism trade and markets are more effectively managed through
public-private sector partnerships. For instance, familiarization trips for journalists and
tour operators can be funded by the government but organized by tour operators /
ground handling agents, while the rapid ‘word of mouth’ effect of social media relies on
the satisfactory experience provided by tourism business to individual tourists. Adding
flights between the destination and new markets will also require strategic planning
with the private sector.