Risk & Crisis Management in Tourism Sector:
Recovery from Crisis
in the OIC Member Countries
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In the case of Bali, tourismnumberswere back to pre-attack levels after the2002 nightclubbomings
by the end of 2004. This was a relatively long time for such a well-established destination. Themain
reasonwas that although therewas significant helpwithmarketing fromconsultants, agencies such
as the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), and international hotel chains, government travel
advisory warnings remained in place in some key source markets for up to 18 months after the
attack. While domestic and regional tourists were largely able to make up the difference in terms of
numbers, their length of stay and expenditure per trip was lower than for the traditional markets
(Gurtner, 2016).
In times of economic crisis, people may still keep travelling but turn to cheaper options. The spread
of low-cost airlines throughout Southeast Asia since the Millennium allowed a travel resurgence in
some countries affected by the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, such as Malaysia.
A further lesson in recovery can be learned from the 21 OIC countries in the first category given
in Section 3.1, i.e. those with a successful tourism industry and where no recent crises have been
recorded affecting this. As a general rule, these minimise their Islamic heritage in their principal
interface with source markets. It is not clear whether this is a deliberate policy to address the
issue of Islamophobia amongst source markets, but the effect is that the aspects emphasised are
their scenery and other natural assets, cultural heritage (in some cases stretching back two
millennia or more), gastronomy, and traditions of hospitality. A brief content analysis of the
official NTO or Tourism Board English-language websites of all 21 of these countries show few
images of mosques (other than where spectacular architecture is highlighted) but many images
of beaches, mountains and other natural landscapes, modern city-scapes, traditional crafts,
music and dance, with substantial mention of opportunities for sporting and adventure
activities, visiting museums and ancient historical sites, ecotourism, luxury beach tourism,
gastronomy, family fun and shopping. Only Kuwait makes a point of clarifying on its tourism
website that female travellers should dress modestly in order to help avoid ‘harassment’.
3.3.5. The Role of the Media
As explained in Section 1, the media can shape the public's perception of events and conditions at
the destination as well as the performance of in-country responses to the crisis.
There is a consensus that accurate news reporting is essential, and that negative coverage has often
damaged the image of the destination and hindered recovery. Avraham (2015) points out that after
the developments from 2010, several countries (including Egypt and Jordan) arranged
familiarization trips of journalists and communicated directly with their markets via blogs and
YouTube to help with image restoration. This strategy particularly helps to counter a common
theme reported on by crisis-afflicted countries, which is that the media tends to exaggerate the
extent and harmful outcomes of crises while neglecting ‘good news’ stories; it is certainly the case
that media coverage can be at least partly responsible for the poor performance of unaffected
destinations within a country which is subject to crises.