Tourism Crisis Management Techniques Tourism Essay

touring carry Crisis Management Techniques Tourism Essayat once the inescapable media exposes tear d take the ab away impromptu viewer to our current charitables of hazard, incident and crisis from Northern Africa and the Middle Easts political unrest and upheaval, to earthquakes in reinvigorated Zealand, Turkey and Haiti, cycl nonpargonils and all(a)uvial deposits in Australia and the spherical Financial Crisis in 2008. It was once believed that whichever countries pull wiresled the atomic number 18nas rock oil reserves would forever prosper b arly with the realisation that the supply is non ever ending m completely UAE States much(prenominal) as Dubai and Abu Dhabi take on sour to touristry to secure a continued future in come into the country. Tourism is veneering an ever increasing threat from c gussy ups coming in every(prenominal) shapes and works, cause it to conk out veritable(a) more than than necessary to develop executionive hazard prediction and add up byment plans with an instantaneous retrieval system to apologize the encroachment of any crisis. The nature of the touristry environment bequeath be shown topographic pointlight its planetary importance whilst introducing divergent causes and types of crises supported with numerous typesetters cases. Alongside this the hardships confront by the pains and the techniques use to minimise the bear on will as well be seen.The features of the front decade of the 21th century whitethorn lead virtuoso to believe that it is a bleak time for the tourism assiduity and a recessive time for the overall tourism environment b arly even despite the current scotch crisis, to which tourism is not immune, the World Tourism Organization forecasts 1.6 billion international tourists by the year 2020. The importance of world tourism is reflected by The World Travel and Tourism council, whose ascertains show that the percentage of the Travel and Tourism Economy to GDP wa s 9.3% in 2010 and will rise to 9.7% by 2020. Cabrini (2010) express that tourism is not only important frugalally it in addition important for homosexual organic evolution as it provides income to some of the worlds poorest people. The 1(prenominal) growth of tourism requires increasing attention from all stakeholders on its sustainability and donation to world development. Over time, an ever increasing number of refinements collapse overt up and invested in tourism development, turning modern tourism into a key driver for socio-economic progress through the creation of jobs and enterprises, infrastructure development and the export revenues earned.It is believed that the majority of the tourism in the world is international however the large majority of international last takes place within the pop offers own region, with about four out of five world arrivals originating from the same region. As economic development permeates through the Chinese middle class, so does th e crave for impudently references with, in 2010, china having the worlds largest domesticated tourism market. Their ethos tolerate be summed up by the British journalist, novelist and poet Gilbert Keith Chesterton, the whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land it is at last to set foot on ones own country as a foreign land. The SARS epidemic in 2003 was one of the most serious public health crises of a decade having the authority to badly damage or even freeze the tourism industry in China. Crisis concern techniques which atomic number 18 strategies, routinees and measures which atomic number 18 planned an put into force to hinder and cope with crises (Glaesser, 2006) were at a time implemented and after initially stalling and prevaricating create the tourism industry to suffer for more than threesome months, the Chinese political science managed to control SARS before it became a global catastrophe. This accomplishment required political will, nat ional mobilisation and a series of support policies such as the exemption of administrative, operation and construction taxes, the provision of discount loans and role assurance deposits to travel agencies (Dombey, 2004). China as well au and thentic its own cause of domestic tourism policies such as promotional campaigns the equivalents of the 2009 China domestic travel fair in April 2009, dismantlenerships like the collaboration among provinces themselves and national and provincial tourism administrators they as well implemented fiscal policies, investing around US$140 million and price cutting where capital of Red China started to issue twain million free tickets of scenic spots to domestic tourists along with longer national holidays (Li, S.N 2010). Source markets for international tourism argon still for the most part concentrated in the industrialized countries of Europe, the Americas and Asia and the Pacific, however, with advance trains of expendable income, legion(predicate) emerging economies start shown fast growth over new-fangled years.Tourism as a product is itself a function of stake, which is a apprehendd probability of negativity associated with a tourists behaviour or termination choice. Risk is not a tangible aspect of travel it is what tourists perceive and inhabit during the process of purchasing and consuming tourism related work and while macrocosm at the coating (Cooper et al, 2008). Travel risk has a great influence on a tourists decision and if the risk perceptions are too high than a destination can suffer greatly as risk averse tourists, who withstand a diminishing peripheral utility, are deterred from the visiting. Tourism is an economic sector whose solvent to damaging events is like no different, it has an above average sensitivity and is more sensitive to shocks and disruptions payable to it world a highly perishable sector, requiring consumers to travel to a destination and the environment in w hich the destination is in.Tourism can be seen as a vulnerable industry for that its particular size and structure doer that a large amount of little companies will be undeniable to provide a tourism develop that are all mutually beneficial on one an early(a). As tourism is a global industry even a country not directly related to a crises can easily be unnatural, for example even though 9/11 occurred in the US in that respect was a snowball effect which caused not only the strap encroachment on the worldwide tourism industry since World state of war II, only if also demonstrated how act of terrorism was able to trigger a slowdown of the whole worlds economy (Ali 2010). A greater number of countries are interlinked and have a degree of inseparability substance that you cant separate a tourism experience from its place of work with Buhalis (2000) believe a destination is an amalgam of tourism services and experiences also having to get tourists to the destination increase s the level of risk by increasing volumes of people. The places in which tourism is located also increases its vulnerability, such as coastlines, and that the power of one vivid disaster such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami whipped out all tourism amenities and accommodation, with world nations needing to provide over US$14 Billion in aid for damage regions (Jayasuriya 2010). Ski resorts are also another example, as mountains themselves are more hazardous than urban empyreans, and crisis watchfulness techniques, actions taken by firms in an attempt to control the progress and exit of a crises (Laws 2006) are regularly imposed such as controlled avalanches. This example highlights that organicly crisis guidance should be embraced in a trouble system rather than as a threat sorrowful away from it being a anxiety reactive response. Tourist places are also bear on by climate change, nowhere more so than the Seychelles and Maldives in the Indian Ocean which are some(prenomin al) economically subordinate on tourism, with the last mentioned(prenominal)s very existence being really threatened with rising sea levels. Tourism is also very sector specific relying heavily on transport and any disaster in this industry will have a great effect on tourism with the ash could over Europe in April 2010 grounding flights and closing airports. Crisis management strategies were instigated no more impressively so than KLM who took the chance to adopt social media to manage this crisis by victimization its Facebook page. It intercommunicate every single wall bet on promptly providing much timely information to customer service with regards to re-booking, flesh out reports and location specific information (Tan 2010). Tourist destinations are also practically seen as soft fools for terrorism as tourists are easy to spot and stand out from natives in any area. They are essentially a big target in a small area for example in October 2002 a few bars in the tourist soil of Kuta in Bali was targeted killing 202 people. If terrorist have a political motive targeting tourist is a influential way as there will be a mass influence on the media.Tourisms importance can also be seen in its intra and inter linked nature in figure 3, whether its with other tourism organisations and destinations or with governments and other industries.Figure 3 The tourism environmentFor example a British tour operator whitethorn use an Australian flag carrier to fly to Singapore and use a local transfer company to get to the Hong Kong based paradise hotel. Leipers (1979) copy of tourism takes into account all these stakeholders and includes all the genes intrinsic for a tourist to travel. Its power is inherent as it places tourism in the consideration of various outside environments such as society, politics and economies which are fundamental for crisis management as these essential all be assed when one takes place. A typical large scale disruption will force analyzable movements away from previous relationships which will then usually tend towards constancy and equilibrium with Keown-McMullan (1997) noting that organisations and the way in which they interlink will undergo monumental changes even when they are successful in managing a crisis situation. During and after a crisis, the destination and its organisations also have to manage their ongoing relations with others in its network of partners. It is oft the case that many services will have to be cancelled at very scant(p) notice, but, apart from the contrexisting obligations amid partners, there are more fundamental issues of trust and reciprocity. get organisations are also possible to make considerable efforts beyond their contractual responsibilities to assist in dealing with the problems that result from a crisis. Competitors often come together and provide extra resources to support a fellow member of the tourism industry.There has been an increase in the number of natural catastrophes from 20 in the 1950s to 91 in the 1900s and over 1000 in the 2000s (Glaesser, 2006) such as earthquakes in wise Zealand in 2011 and Chile in 2010. Their impact on the world especially on the tourism industry has been heightened due(p) to continued exponential universe of discourse growth, climate change and human technological achievements. Tourism can also be plunged into crises due to man do peck such as war, the 2000 coup in Fiji, disease and epidemic, the 2001 Foot-and-mouth eruption in the UK and SARS across Asia 2002-2004, transport, the Air France Concorde crash in 2000, political and economic, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and recent events in Northern Africa and the Middle East, acts of terrorism, 9/11 and the bombings in Bali in 2002.It may be thought that the spoken language crisis, disaster, catastrophe and hazard are all synonyms for each other however they all have very different meanings. Catastrophes are contradict events which in contrast to a crisis have a clear inevitable outcome thus missing a crisis ambivalence of development and restructuring opportunities ex chain armor. A hazard can be thought of as a lower berth level problem that would not in itself deter tourists from a destination but could be the swaying factor in a decision which was already uncertain for example for a risk averse or unbiassed tourist. Smith (1995, from Ritchie 2004) believed that a disaster would spring from a hazard and that there are no such things as natural disasters only natural hazards with a disaster being the realisation of a hazard and its impact on society. A disaster and crisis can be correspondent as they both involve an event, natural or manmade, which impacts with such severity that the affected community, organisation or group has to answer by taking exceptional(a) measures. There is often confusion when a crisis results as cause from a disaster with Falkner (2001) making the distinction that a crisis has s ome degree of being self inflicted through problems such as inept management structures and practices or a failure to adapt to change whilst a disaster has an element of no control as an enterprise is confronted with a sudden episodic catastrophic change. Some places may be associated with greater travel risk than others and thus even without an actual crisis taking place travellers may be deterred from that destination.In the context of tourism the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has define a tourism crisis as any unexpected event that affects traveller confidence in a destination and interferes with its ability to continue operating(a) prescriptly and Sonmez (1998) as any occurrence which can threaten the normal operations and conduct of tourism related businesses, damage a tourist destinations overall reputation for safety, attractiveness and comfort by negatively modify visitors perceptions of that destination and, interrupt the continuity of business operations for the local travel and tourism industry by the reduction in tourist arrivals and expenditures. These two definitions snap on the direct impact of the event itself however Beriman (2003) expressed a tourism crises as a situation requiring radical management action in response to events beyond the internal control of the destination, necessitating urgent adaptation of marketing and operational practices to restore the confidence of employees, associated enterprises and consumers in the viability of the destination. Glaesser (2006) saw a crisis as an undesired, extraordinary, often unexpected and timely curtailed process with ambivalent development possibilities. It demands immediate decisions and countermeasures in send to influence the come along development again positively for the organisation/destination and to limit the negative consequences as much as likely. A crisis situation is determined by evaluating the seriousness of the occurring negative events, which threaten, weaken or destroy competitive advantages or important intentions of the organisation. In order to pursue the tellingness of crisis management techniques on impact mitigation, we shall digest on the latter two definitions as they not only focus on the direct impact but also the ex post responses. Figure 6 below highlights the impact of any crisis showing that numerous parties would be affect due to tourisms interlinked nature.Figure 6 The various spheres of activityIn observing that our environment appears to have become increasingly tumultuous and with the number of crisis increasing, Richardson (1994) suggested that this may not only because we merry in a more complex and crowded world but because we have more powerful technology that has a real capacitor to generate disasters, which complicates the process of isolating cause and effect relationships. Thus the boundaries between natural and manmade disasters are becoming increasingly blurred which needs to be taken into account in a ny analysis and critical evaluation.Ali (2010) highlighted that belatedly crisis management in the tourism industry seems to have received more attention in the generic fields of management and crisis management, whereas Henderson (2003) believed that despite the expanding literature in the field, the interaction between crisis and tourism in its multiples forms still appeared under-researched in comparison to other dimensions with scope for further scrutiny in spare-time activity of a break dance understanding. Sonmez (1998) argued that although there has been a large advocation of the necessity of crisis management efforts, few have explored solutions and preventative solutions possibly due to the grandeur of the task. Ritchie (2004) insisted that due to the different paradigmatic positions in crisis management, research must explore the attitudes and opinions of mangers and constitution makers in both the secret and public sector in order to test different models and concep ts in the field. To see how crises are managed and whether the methods employed are effective we must understand that there are many different awards. sensation of the most extensive works done was by Faulkner (2001) who developed a disaster management framework in tourism that provided a six- variety process. The first is the pre-event variety in which disaster possibility plans, scenarios and probability assessments run a major role in the disaster management strategy. Although the actual timing, location and severity of natural disasters cannot be accurately predicted it is possible to chance upon from the past to pre-plan jot procedures and to mitigate the severity of such events by adopting clutch building codes, escape routes and alternative measures. A study conducted by Boudreaux (2005) discussed the impact of the September 11, 2001 attacks on participants crisis preparation. It was stated that there has been a new vehemence on the security of their facilities and the use of government sanctioned training or meetings to support crisis preparation and highlight public safety. The second is the prodromal phase where the disaster is imminent and warning systems and command centres are established with contingency plans being initiated. The role of a crisis manager here is not reactive, but instead a proactive approach where information can be found in various places, such as internal and external audits, government legislation and industry publications. The third is the emergency phase in which the disaster effects are felt and actions are necessary to cherish people in the tourism destination. A prime example of this was immediately after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in which tourists and locals had to flee for their lives seeking safety in any types of buildings with sizable ground clearance and government constructing shelters for disaster ridden southwestward East Asians. The fourth is the intermediate phase in which short-ter m and immediate needs of people have to be addressed by emergency and rescue teams with a clear media communication strategy also being crucial in this phase. An example of this was post Hurricane Katrina in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season in which the US government alongside domestic and international aid agencies set up community shelters and organised food, piss and sanitation programs. The fifth represent is the long-term (recovery) phase in which the shamed infrastructure has to be rebuilt, and environmentally damaged areas have to be reconstructed. A prime example is the 2010 Haiti earthquake in which Renois (2010) estimated that 250,000 residencies, 30,000 commercial buildings and 16,500 schools had collapsed or were poorly damaged which all needed to be rebuilt. The last-place is the resolution phase corresponding to Finks (1986) where routine is restored or a new, modifyd state occurs. This distributor point identifies a clear end to the crisis although organisat ions view this as the goal, it is not one to be rushed to. An organisations premature conclusion that Finks (1986) third chronic stage has ended can leave them vulnerable to the resurgence of the crisis. Due diligence in the earlier stages of the model must be practiced to watch such a regression does not occur. Having explored crises in great situation we shall now move to see how they are handled in order to limit their damage.Crises occur on a scale spectrum that ranges from local through to global and in todays world, crisis and disaster management is a major requirement for all businesses, defence and government organisations. How efficiently any crisis or disaster is handled depends on the decision making capabilities and the resources available. While technical expertise can improve crisis avoidance or minimise the disruption resulting from a crisis hot management is also need to deal with both the needs of those affected and the inauspicious publicity which might result . Policy makers are faced with the challenge of how to respond to such crises sometimes in the absence of any disaster management framework. Good crisis management is partly about the ability of organisations to learn from experience and that of others and partly about the willingness of leading organisations to carry out research and then pass on information which is required for effective pre-planning. Dreyer (2001) believes that it is of prime essential to assess the crisis early enough and to adopt existing crisis plans within the affected area and then later in the operational crisis management stage the goal is to manage the ongoing crisis and to limit damage. It is clear that a strategicalal approach to crisis planning and management is needed to help retain the confidence of travellers and the travel industry and to minimise the negative impact of crises on destinations. The goal is to get tourists back to affected destinations as agilely as possible and with good crisis management techniques this can be speedy. Regardless of crisis type, the techniques for dealing with it are similar. According to the UNWTO, good communications based on the principles of honesty and transparence together with communications, promotion, security and market research are the key to a successful strategy for crisis management.The early reports of a respiratory disease in one part of China didnt alarm the tourism industry in most countries and the first few days reports of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK generated some concern but primarily for agriculture. In both cases measures were taken as a reaction which triggered an impact on tourism. The latter caused all footpaths and bridleways to be closed effectively closing the countryside to tourists and the latter made the travel advice given by governments and the WHO (World Health Organisation) made consumers and airlines change their plans. A large consequence of a crisis will be a satisfying drop in sales volu mes, for example the drop in overthrow for airlines alone as a result of the Gulf War was estimated at 2 billion dollars (Blake and Sinclair 2003). Terrorist attacks in Egypt during the 1990s also caused tourist to retard away which meant that in the space of a year, the revenue from the international tourism industry for this destination dropped by 1 billion US dollars. This was excel by the events of 9/11 in the USA, which caused not only the worst impact on the worldwide tourism industry since World War II, but also demonstrated how terrorism was able to trigger a slowdown of whole worlds economy. These examples illustrate how the tourism industry as an economic sector is challenged by negative events. It is therefore important to analyse negative events from every angle, to systematically identify critical success factors which are elements that organisations should focus on during a tourism crisis and integrate them to ensure effective strategic corporate orientation between different stakeholders, ensuring a most effective recovery plan.Lynch (2004) provides steps for tourism organisations that should be taken to mitigate the effect of a crisis over a three phase model, the first few weeks, three months and three years later. During phase one resources and media messages must be organised, statistics and scenario planning must be undertaken, mechanisms of communications within the tourism industry and customers must be established as some methods may have been destroyed and a wish list uniting all parties around a few key things articulated consistently. This time is likely to be frantic but is most important for the provision of human life. In phase two certain new realities will have influenced everyones thinking and there will be an urgent need to get customers travelling again. This is about tactical marketing to make sales and reconstruct confidence, for example do you price cut or add value. The briny things to focus on are making the case for financial support, lobbying for other measures which will help business with cash flows e.g. deferral of tax payments and providing good quality information to policy makers on how the crisis is developing. In the next three years (phase 3) it is necessary to wind down the crisis teams, promote the destination and focus on the return of the customer especially traditional customers. Systems changes will be now be being implemented and as we know new relationships will have formed which need to be nurtured.A happen theme in crisis management is that of recovery and getting tourists back to the area and this is largely influenced by the medias response and so Beirman (2003) defines four steps in the marketing management of a destination crisis with the emphasis on how the crisis is managed in terms of the appearance projected. The first two steps are identifying the event or problem as a crisis or hazard with the latter just being a lower level problem that would not deter tourists i n itself and establishing a crisis management team and defining roles, both which we have seen before. The difference is in the emphasis of the third step which is promoting the destination during and after the crisis, highlighting the importance of the media again in the recovery of a destination as crisis management is as much about dealing with human perceptions about the crisis and the management of a crisis as it is about physically re resoluteness the crisis (Health, 1998 in Miller and Ritchie 2003). The last is monitoring the recovery and analysing the crisis experience in order to learn from the situation and improve their techniques.There are numerous crisis management frameworks or models available for companies and destinations to base their activity on. One suggested was by Heath (1998, from Ritchie 2009) known as the 4 Rs reduction (risk management), readiness, response and recovery. Another was by Hystad and Keller (2006, from Ritchie 2009) which involved the stages pr e-disaster, disaster, post disaster and resolution. Santana (2003, from Ritchie 2009) nicely brought these similar strategies and others together and put together a two stage model of proactive crisis management consisting of signal detection, preparation and prevention and post crisis management involving damage limitation and recovery. The pre-crisis stages normally involve scanning the environment using a PEST (political, economic, socio-cultural and technological) analysis or consulting the countries foreign office for advice. It can be challenging to specify the danger precisely but even if you know what to look for provisions may not be implemented. In 2002 post 9/11 there was widespread international erudition that the tourism industry may be a soft target for terrorists which should have prompted tourism industry bureaucrats to consider the possibility of an attack, however believing that Indonesian tourism enhances peace between nations the government were too optimistic that no incident would befall them (Andari, 2008). Even so there was no organisation learning, incapacity to improve or continuity in the institutions accountable for designing and implementing the recovery plans as they believed that it would never happen again, leading to private organisations doing a large bulk of the work, but in 2005 the second bombs in love (Andari 2008). Quite often this first stage does not occurs as we have seen but also was the case in turkey 2001 where the research findings better that neither the government nor private organizations had any plans for dealing with the crisis before or after the event (Okumus 2005). A pre-crisis success method is in the form of examining and risk assessments using maps which help identify the most vulnerable part of a destination for example landslide maps in Brazil and Chile, and flood maps in the UK and Australia. Successful mitigation can also help to constrain the loss of human life and damage through physical mea sures like dams and cyclone shutters and through diversification if an area relies too heavily on tourism like the Maldives. The importance of plan creation is paramount like emergency plans and warning systems which are now in place throughout South East Asia, building codes in earthquake prone areas the London 2012 exceptional Games have also had stringent terrorist attack simulations.Responding to the crisis itself requires coordination and control with its handling being essential to mitigate a crisiss impact. The 2001 Foot Mouth Outbreak in the UK and 2005 Hurricane Katrina were poorly managed with the former suffering as tourism was not perceived as a stakeholder leading to the allocation of resources to the agricultural sector. This disaster for the tourism industry was not the disease itself but the actions taken to eradicate the tillage crisis and the media images associated with these actions (Miller 2003). The latter became the costliest natural disaster in the history of the USA (Knabb, 2005) due to reasons like a slow response at the federal level given there was some warning and time to prepare and a lack of overall control as discrepancies as to which body were in charge. In this stage of a crisis the media play a huge part to whether the area will recover and prosper in the near future. In regards to the very early stages of a crisis it is often not at all clear what the scale is, what the likely duration will be of solving it will be or exactly who has been affected. There may be many reporters on the ground, tourists who may phone or email contacts often providing video clips of the situation which are inserted into news broadcasts in this way misinformation may spread. In the longer term, in managing the aftermath of a crisis when the immediate short term problems have been dealt with, the destination will turn to the media with a combination of advertising and public relations to communicate to their client base that the crisis has been resolved. This alongside marketing campaigns will be used to stimulate demand in order to fill some of the lost revenue. Essential is a quick response, consistency in the information given out and openness and honesty. The 1988 Lockerbie disaster and the two examples just discussed were examples of poor media communication however much better handled disasters were the 1989 Kegworth air disaster with the companys reputation actually enhanced ex post even though it was actually their fault and 9/11 with New Yorkers positive spirits documented and the Mayor as the spokesperson for the city. The final stage is that of recovery and resolution which has already been discussed in Faulker and Finks frameworks. The key elements are media and marketing communication getting tourists back to the affected area, physical recovery like infrastructure repair and sharing best practices in the check and learning process.As well as negative outcomes, crisis and disasters also have potentially posi tive results such as stimulus for research and innovation, economic and human development and the emergence of new markets. Some crises are largely restricted to the tourism industry and arose from problematic characteristics in its own operations. The origins of other crises lay completely outside the influence of tourism sector managers, and many of these crises devastated large areas and killed, injured or damaged many sectors of the local population or key infrastructure and industries. Thus we have seen the ever changing nature of the world and its population making tourism organisations and destinations more susceptible to crises and disasters, a more vulnerable industry in general with the potential for major impacts. This creates vast challenges for the industry however by establishing the phases of a crisis, disaster management techniques and strategies can be implemented to mitigate the impact of these, more often than not, catastrophic events.