Risk & Crisis Management in Tourism Sector:
Recovery from Crisis
in the OIC Member Countries
46
Until repairs are made to the key infrastructure and facilities used by tourists in the affected area,
efforts to promote destination recovery should be limited to areas unaffected by the even or
incident. In the worst affected areas full restoration may take some time, so it is important to
localise the “out-of-action” areas by emphasizing that facilities in other places are fully functioning.
Examples of this approach were seen in Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Malaysia after the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and after severe flooding in the UK in 2014 and 2015-16.
In order to persuade the international travel trade to promote a destination through featuring it in
their programmes or otherwise supporting it, destinations should undertake a variety of joint
promotions and other forms of collaboration with trade producers. Inbound tour operators are
driven by the potential to generate income, and they are more likely to feature destinations for
which there is strong market demand and for which the costs (e.g. landing fees, accommodation,
and other local elements) enable them to be competitive.
When a destination is hit by an event/incident that negatively impacts on market perceptions,
winning back trade requires additional efforts by the destination authorities and tourism sector.
Some of these have been outlined above, but the principal elements are familiarisation trips and
other promotional efforts, government commitment and leadership, and reducing local costs and
taxes and providing subsidies. Details of how these are manifested are given below.
1. Familiarisation Trips and Increased Promotion
Familiarisation trips should be aimed at key travel trade personnel, as well as selected media and
influential personalities from the source markets. They should demonstrate that the recovery
process is well under way and that the destination has resumed offering safe experiences that
provide high levels of satisfaction. The Nepal Tourism Board’s multi-faceted strategy to recover
from the 2015 earthquake included Familiarisation trips for tour operators, media personnel,
opinion leaders and celebrities (e.g. international actress Susan Sarandon).
Marketing messages during this period should focus on positive stories about the destination,
for example rebuilding work by volunteers in places affected by natural disasters, and
encouraging tourists to show solidarity with affected communities by returning. Messages
should also try to counter-balance overly sensationalist reporting and create a more realistic
impression of the scale of the incident.
An example of increased promotion was when Kenya tackled the combined impact of internal
political issues and terrorist attacks in Nairobi and on the coast by almost doubling its marketing
budget in 2015/16, creating incentive packages for charter-based tour programmes, and easing
visa regulations for South African visitors (a significant market). These actions helped to bring
about a recovery in 2016 of around 16% (Aviation, Travel and Conservation News, 2017).