M. A. P. Insights
By Junie del Mundo
How to book a return flight from crisis and live to tell the tale
The Philippines is no stranger to crises. The local tourism industry in particular has borne the brunt of these crises, ranging from acts of terrorism, political turmoil, pandemics, to environmental disasters.
Having lived through numerous crises, we know by now that we need to have effective crisis management to ensure that negative perceptions do not persist and do not result in long-term damage to the Philippines’ reputation.
Having long been in the field of crisis communications, I would like to share insights on how the Philippines can best manage in the aftermath of a crisis beginning with this most important point: that crisis communications begins even before an actual crisis happens.
While responding to a crisis is critical in preventing its escalation, being prepared and having a recovery plan is vital to ensuring quick and effective response. This also allows a country to rebuild its reputation or brand after a crisis.
This is why mitigation and prevention are an essential component of crisis communications. Mitigation and prevention measures mean being crisis-ready, and involve various measures such as continuous communication about innovations, new systems, cooperation, and crisis response partnerships, among others.
For the tourism sector, being crisis-ready calls for multi-stakeholder planning. One important preparatory step is identifying and understanding the needs of stakeholders in each part of the process — prior to, during, and after a crisis. This is why it is imperative that tourism industry stakeholders from both public and private sectors participate in the planning and management of crisis situations.
This also means that crisis communication protocols need to be in place. How are crisis situations escalated? What are the first steps that we need to do once we receive reports of a crisis situation? Do we know who are the first offices — may it be from the public and private sector, to contact when a crisis strikes? Is there a process in place and on paper, so that it can easily be cascaded, to communicate to tourists once crisis strikes? Needless to say, connections should be in place between tourism industry stakeholders and government officials at various levels.
During the crisis period, the immediate priority is to demonstrate exceptional crisis management capabilities to minimize losses, ensure tourists’ safety, and limit excessively negative media perceptions. This means search and rescue should be organized, efficient, if not fast. There should be safe shelter for victims and tightened security around touristic areas, as the return of tourists to their home countries is facilitated. We have to bear in mind that the success of initial panic containment and crisis management efforts can have a great impact on the perception of the crisis, especially for the tourism sector.
The third measure is perception management. Negative, exaggerated media reports should be addressed and wrong information corrected. To do so, government must be accessible to media and provide regular update during a crisis situation.
There must be strong impactful communications to address concerns of tourists and would-be visitors and this should be sustained even after the situation has stabilized. The private sector must play a large part to help communicate and amplify the message of safety and security from the authorities.
Once the situation has been stabilized, measures must be implemented to restore the number of visitors. One way is to incentivize tourism demand by reducing prices of products and services. This was one of the steps taken by Bali after the 2002 bombing, with almost 75% of Bali hotels reducing prices by 37%. Thailand, after the 2014 protests, organized the “Amazing Thailand Grand Sale.”
The second measure is for government to provide support through fiscal policy, low interest rate loans, and promotional trips for tour operators and travel agents, or even foreign media. For example, subsidies can be offered to foreign air carriers willing to introduce new destinations for their passengers. Levies on unfilled seats can also be reduced to discourage airlines from cutting flights, which was done by Egypt. Thailand, following the 2010 riots, announced tax incentives for companies hosting domestic international trade shows and training seminars.
The country can also look to other possible sources of tourists. For example, Bali diverted its focus from its traditional Western holiday makers to tourists from Japan and Taiwan. Egypt granted Indian tourists, historically not major visitors of the country, visas on arrival and launched a direct flight between Cairo and New Delhi.
A sustained communications campaign is also essential. While it may initially focus on concerns of tourists, the campaign may eventually evolve to highlight positives such as other possible tourist areas, new innovations or systems being established, increased security, partnerships with foreign governments and the private sector, promos and other softer types of destination communication, among others.
Political stability and safety are prerequisites for tourism. We now have more savvy travelers who do research on destinations. Travel bloggers and other online influencers now make videos about countries. Our messages of safety and security must be captured by these individuals as well.
In all this, we have to remember that crisis communications is a continuous effort that stakeholders need to consciously and proactively manage, long before a crisis emerges.
Junie del Mundo is the Chair of the M.A.P. CEO Conference Committee and the CEO of the EON Group, a fully-integrated communications agency. EON Group also spearheads thought leadership initiatives including the Philippine Trust Index (PTI), a multi-awarded proprietary research that looks into Filipinos’ trust in society’s institutions.
