Risk & Crisis Management in Tourism Sector:
Recovery from Crisis
in the OIC Member Countries
13
Destination Responses
 Introduction of crisis or disaster management plans and action plans (if not already in
place), at national level and local level and by the public sector and individual
businesses.
 Tax holidays or subsidies, reduction in costs such as landing fees or visa fees,
government grants to tourism businesses.
 Direct funding by government and development agencies for re-building or upgrading
infrastructure in the short-term, and for capacity-building in the medium to longer term.
 Product diversification, integrated with market diversification to reduce reliance on a
narrow range of products and services.
 Improved security on the ground and on flights (visible to travellers and behind the
scenes).
 Loosening of visa regulations, making applications easier, or reducing the cost.
 Close collaboration by government authorities with other stakeholders.
 Good communication between the tourism industry and local community to ensure
their support for tourism.
Critical Success Factors
 Where countries (or destinations) already have a robust tourism industry with strong
underlying USPs, good recognition as a brand, and good customer loyalty (e.g. a high
level of repeat visitors and warm links between visitors and local people), it is more
likely that recovery from crisis will be swift. In some cases tourists who feel a personal
connection with a country will donate money for its recovery (especially in the case of a
natural disaster), and make a point of visiting in order to support the industry.
 The most successful recovery has been evidenced where there is strong government
commitment to the industry as well as leadership in terms of strategy, policy, and
understanding of market trends.
 Recovery has also been helped where there is clear evidence of public and private
sectors working together and supported by the general public.
 Deregulation of over-bureaucratic procedures and introducing incentives for
encouraging foreign investment.
 Looking to the longer term, some governments have introduced training programmes
to build human resource capacity generally across the sector.