Tourism & More

Getting Beyond Denial

May 2002

The recent wave of violence in the Middle East and in such countries as India and Nepal should serve as a wake-up call for tourism industries around the world. Unfortunately, too many tourism industries and travel professionals function in a state of denial. For example, less than a year from September 11th, 2001 has many travel professionals functioning as if that day had never occurred. While we must all hope and pray that no such act will reoccur the recent Passover Massacre at a Netanya (Israel) hotel ought to put the entire industry on warning. In the US we have forgotten all too quickly that no one on September 10th would have believed the horror that was to unfold the next day. Although much of the western world is recovering from September 11th, we have no way of knowing if we are not living in a fool’s paradise and that other attacks are still to come. To help you develop the sustainable tourism in a period of strife, Tourism Tidbits recommends that you consider some of the following suggestions;

• Up the level of your service and make it fun. Travel for many people simply is not fun anymore. Long airport lines, the need to remove articles of clothing, the tearing apart of briefcases and suitcases, delayed planes, and no food makes travel (especially air travel) much more of a hassle than a pleasure. Help your guests to recover through extra thoughtful service. Encourage hotels to develop “stress-down” meals, to provide extras from a smile to special bathroom sundries. Encourage attractions to have special “thanks for traveling days”. In other words, do everything possible to put the fun back in travel.
• Pay your security people top dollar. In the twentieth century security was seen as an add-on, the bonus or a required extra. In the twenty-first century, people want to see security guards and they want to know that they are professionals. This professionalization of the profession comes about through good training, good wages, and strict standards. In a like manner, police officers today should be paid well and expected to perform at the highest levels. No community can afford to skimp on its police department and communities which are tourism dependent should begin to develop a “Tourism Oriented Policing Services unit” (TOPS).
• Make sure that your visitor personnel have fun at what they do. Good service in tough times comes when visitor professionals have fun at their job. While everyone who works in the travel and visitor industry is a target, too much thinking about what might go wrong will only play into the hands of terrorists. Do things to make sure that people who work in the travel and visitor industry have fun at work. These extras will soon translate into smiles that will help your employees to transform the frustration of travel into the fun of meeting new people.
• Do a tourism security assessment. You should know what is vulnerable in your community and what may be unsafe. Good assessments look at everything from airport safety to who has access to a guest’s room. Such an assessment should look not only at issues of terrorism but also at issues of crime, and how these crimes can be prevented. Ask yourself what your community is doing to protect tourists from crimes of distraction, fraud and identity theft. Do not forget that a tourism service provider who does not provide the service for which he/she has contracted is also dishonest.
• Do not only focus in on terrorism. Terrorism today is a hot topic, but there is a higher probability that visitors will be touched by an act of crime than by an act of terrorism. Know which are the crimes that are most likely to impact visitors to your community. Then develop a plan that coordinates security professionals, law enforcement, the political establishment and the tourism industry. Remember that a poorly trained police force can almost over night destroy a well thought out marketing program.
• Fix rather than market. All too often the tourism industry puts its major dollars into marketing strategies. Good marketing can attract visitors, but it cannot hold visitors. If visitors are miss-treated, robbed, or must deal with a police department that is bureaucratic or unsympathetic visitors are not only unlikely to return to your community, but there is a great chance that they will engage in negative marketing.
• Have a recovery plan. It is impossible to tell when a tragedy may strike. The most that can be expected is that you practice good risk management. Also make sure that your community is prepared to face the media, that you have a compensation package ready for your guests, and that you have developed a “visitor caring center” to aid people who are away from home and need your aid.