By
Dr. Peter Tarlow
June 2012
This is one edition of Tourism
Tidbits that you hopefully will
never need, but definitely want to keep. No matter how good your risk
management may be, the bottom line is that from time to time bad things
do
happen. No matter what we do, natural disasters such as hurricanes and
earthquakes occur, people get sick, a crime happens or a terrorism
attack comes
at the most unlikely place and at the least expected times. When
these
unforeseen circumstances happen, it is essential to have developed a
tourism
continuity plan. No two tourism destinations or attractions are
totally
alike and therefore perhaps the first thing to remember about a good
continuity
plan is that it must be tailored-made to fit your particular
circumstance. Do not simply use someone else's or a boilerplate
plan.
What may work in one location may simply not work in another location.
Understanding
this need for individualization, please consider the following ideas.
- Tourism is about being
caring and concerned.
Therefore any tourism continuity plan must put people first. If
your plan
is only focused on keeping your business going without thinking about
both the
business' needs and your visitors needs, then the plan will be only
half
complete.
- Bad things do happen.
Take the time to think about your worse case
scenarios. If you could not operate your business, how long would
you
survive? What financial obligations will you have to meet, even
if no one
walks through the door or comes to visit your community. What
would you
do if your employees take sick, or transportation services to your
locale were
to cease?
- Have a written continuity
plan that is understandable to others.
Many managers assume that they will be the one to hold their business
or
tourism local together in case of emergency. The problem is that
managers and
tourism executives are also people and things can also happen to
them.
Write out as much as possible and make sure that you leave the plan in
an
easily accessible place.
- Review your plan with your
insurance agent.
There may be a whole host of insurance options that can insure
continuity for a
very low cost. While an insurance policy cannot provide 100%
protection,
having the right insurance may mean the difference between continuity
and
bankruptcy.
- Review this plan on a
regular basis. No matter
how good your continuity plan may be, as soon as you have written it,
assume
that it is already outdated. Tourism is one of the least static
businesses; it is always in a constant state of change. This
means that
your business continuity plan must be examined on a regular basis and
keep up
to date as much as possible.
- Be creative in your
business plan. Make sure
that you think not only about all sorts of things that could go wrong,
but also
remember that in tourism we will have to maintain our sense of
hospitality both
during and after the crisis. Thus you will need to not only think about
your
internal communications system, but how your guests will communicate
with their
friends and relatives during the crisis. Ask yourself how you
will feed
people, what special needs will visitors have and how you may have to
deal with
people who speak a foreign language.
- Remember that tourism is
as much about perceptions as facts.
That means that as part of your continuity plan, you must have a media
information plan. The media can paint a story with a positive or
negative spin.
Should the media portray your locale in a negative light; then they can
make
your business recuperation much more difficult. To guard against that
potential, incorporate your guests into the continuity plan so that
they become
your allies rather than your foes.
- Determine where your
continuity weak points are and be ready to
deal with these issues before all else fails.
Every locale has several weak points. It may be a road network, the
fact that
the airport is close to the sea or vulnerable to a breach of security,
it may
be that hotel food services are not up to par or that there is
insufficient
medical attention in your community. Know these weak points and
think how
you will continue should a disaster occur.
- Make sure everyone knows
what his or her role is, and how to
replace at least one other player should that be necessary.
A crisis is not the time to hold philosophical discussions; there needs
to be
one person in charge who gives the orders and has an overall view of
the
situation. Prior to developing a continuity plan, players should be
invited to
speak their minds, but once the plan needs to go into action, second
guessing
becomes counter productive. On the other hand, all participants
in a
continuity plan are liable to not be able to perform, for any number of
reasons. Therefore protect the plan by creating player redundancies, if
one
person cannot assume the responsibility then there is a back-up person
to fill
his or her shoes.
- Understand the importance
of "redundancy".
Redundancy is having multiple plans in place so that if for some
reason, one
back-up system does not work, there is a second one to back-up the
back-up
system. Redundancy systems not only work as an insurance policy
but also
help to lower the chances of fear and panic. Guests need to know that
the local
authorities are in control, have a plan and have taken the time to care
not
only about property and profits but also about them.
About the Author:
Dr.
Peter E. Tarlow is the President of T&M, a founder of the Texas
chapter of
TTRA and a popular author and speaker on tourism. Tarlow is a
specialist in the
areas of sociology of tourism, economic development, tourism safety and
security.
Tarlow speaks at governors' and state conferences on tourism and
conducts
seminars throughout the world and for numerous agencies and
universities.
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