Tourism Risk Management - Sustainable Tourism Online

Proactive Planning: An Example of Best Practice
Although most of the tourism industry would be familiar with cases of poor or inadequate risk
management, it is often considered difficult to find examples of good crisis management planning.
In practice, effective crisis management prevents or minimizes a potential crisis with limited adverse
public or consumer awareness. This implies appropriate measures of mitigation, preparation and
communication. The ideal or “best practice” approach to risk and crisis management is proactive,
strategic and holistic and designed to coordinate and manage a diverse range of tourism
stakeholders.
The essence to achieving such an approach is premised on knowledge, understanding and
familiarity. A valuable and useful strategy for any planning process is to learn from past lessons and
experiences, whether local or international. In their article A case study of best practice—
VisitScotland’s prepared response to an influenza pandemic, Page, Yeoman, Munro, Connell and
Walker (2005) demonstrate how VisitScotland, the Scottish National Tourism Organization, used
the incidence of foot-and-mouth disease and systematic scenario planning exercises to develop
proactive contingency plans and response strategies for the looming issue of flu pandemic.
Learning from Foot-and-Mouth
While commonly described as an agricultural, farming or health crisis, the outbreak of foot-andmouth
disease in the United Kingdom had significant impacts on the tourism industry. Consumer
uncertainty and concern led travellers to postpone holidays, cancel trips or choose alternative
destinations. Media images of afflicted livestock, local precautions and stringent travel advices
essentially resulted in reduced tourist numbers and associated revenues. The effect of foot-andmouth
disease on Scotland’s tourism economy was profound, and according to this paper “ensured
that VisitScotland would learn from those experiences for future crises” (p374).
A Potential Flu Pandemic
With growing media attention and awareness dedicated to the spread of Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
during late 2005, this report outlines how the potential mutation to a global flu pandemic was
identified as a significant issue or external environmental risk likely to impact on the Scottish tourism
industry. Consistent with a systematic risk management process the potential nature, scope and
extent of the issue was researched (in tandem with the Scottish Executive’s Department of Health)
to evaluate the priority of the risk. Determined a high priority issue, scenario planning exercises
were subsequently adapted and developed “to understand the challenges to plan for the type of
actions to prepare for a crisis” (p362).
The Scenario Planning
Based on a variety of realistic scenarios relating to severity and duration, this planning employed a
triangulation of methods to model the diverse implications of an influenza pandemic, including a
quantification of expected disruptions and changes to consumer behaviour. Using established
methodologies, scenarios were developed over a successive period of stakeholder consultation and
iteration. Industry based workshops were then used to further map collective themes and issues to
identify potential outcomes of these scenarios.
The principal outcomes outlined the implications for Scottish tourism relating to issues including;
market reactions and changes, transportation, travel displacement, resources, employment and
staffing, service disruption and civil unrest. From these issues, a number of key or critical issues
were identified to help model anticipated information flow, responsibilities and relevant
stakeholders. Developed as a guide of “principal actions and approach” to the outbreak of a global
pandemic, this exercise has since assisted with tangible contingency planning, business continuity
planning, and the consideration of appropriate response strategies for the Scottish tourism sector.
58 Tourism Risk Management – An Authoritative Guide to Managing Crises in Tourism