Talking up a storm

Hype and fear mongering are an unfortunate offshoot of news journalism, as invariably sensationalism sells. But when the media’s coverage of perceived risk prevails over real conditions, how do you communicate the facts?

Howard Carr investigates the tourism industry’s love-hate relationship with the mass media and the challenge to heal wounded public confidence in the wake of widely publicised disaster.

Tourism is an unpredictable business. One moment, guests are jostling for the sunloungers around the hotel pool. The next, the place is emptied by a terrorist attack, health scare or a natural disaster such as a tsunami or hurricane.

How quickly a destination’s hospitality sector recovers from such a setback depends to a large extent on how efficiently it handles the resulting media coverage. And in these days of rolling news channels, getting your side of the story heard among the media frenzy is no easy task.

Istanbul’s tourism business, for example, plummeted after the Turkish earthquake of 1999 – even though most of the damage was 50 miles outside the city. Likewise, Thai tourism officials struggled to get the message heard that resorts on the country’s east coast had not been hit by the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

“It’s the law of the land. Bad news sells newspapers,” says Judy McCluskey, chief executive of McCluskey International, one of the UK’s largest public relations agencies specialising in travel and tourism.

“We warn all our clients that if there is a sniff of a crisis, the media could well drag up other negatives too. For example, if a holidaymaker is shot or robbed, the media may expand the story to examine crime in that country generally. “We work on all the positives we can find in a destination. Hopefully, these will outweigh any negatives if there is a crisis.”

For McCluskey, communication between all sectors of the hospitality industry is key to handling media coverage of a crisis. She recalls: “At the time of the Boxing Day tsunami, we were advising the Maldives and Sri Lanka Airlines. We made sure that all key parties in those destinations’ tourism industries were constantly in touch with each other so that they were all saying the same thing to the press.

“One of the biggest challenges at a time like that is persuading people to resist the temptation to shut down and hide away. You can’t ignore the world’s media. It’s asking for trouble.”

Recovering from SARS

Communication was a key part of Project Phoenix, a tourism recovery programme devised by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) after the SARS crisis of 2002/3. Today many tourism experts consider the programme the ideal blueprint for getting business back on track.

PATA highlighted a long list of effects of the ‘fear factor’ created by press coverage of SARS. Within days of a US businessman dying from SARS in Hanoi in February 2003, 50 per cent of hotels,  airlines and tourist attractions in the Pacific Asia region were reporting a downturn in bookings. Much of the fear was due to what PATA describes as an “information vacuum”.

“Too many ‘what if’ questions generated dramatic headlines and a distorted picture,” says the travel association’s corporate communications director Dale Lawrence. And the fear factor proved self-perpetuating. For example, further headlines were made worldwide when the Rolling Stones cancelled shows in China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

By May 2003, hotel occupancy in Hong Kong had plummeted to just 12 per cent. The overall number of arrivals in the Pacific Asia region that year fell by more than 15 million, at a cost of US$11 billion.

Project Phoenix was designed as a co-ordinated response by the tourism industry. All sectors of the trade were invited to contribute to a fighting fund, which raised US$350,000. Key elements included media partnerships with outlets including CNN and Time magazine, a public relations programme, an advertising campaign and a dedicated website.

A major aim for PATA was that the tourism and hospitality industry should speak with one voice – and that the message should be informative and educational, using hard facts rather than fiction. By 2004, visitor figures to the region were topping 2002 levels.

PATA has since followed up the initiative by launching the Pacific Asia Coalition for Travel, an industry-wide taskforce to help to counter threats to travel and tourism. Members include the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA), the International Air Transport Association and national tourism offices.

Strength in numbers

David Perl, chief executive of crisis management specialist Docleaf, cites the PATA projects as good examples of how the hospitality sector should pull together in times of crises. “Generally, the way the travel business deals with crises is pretty poor,” he says.

Perl attributes the failings to the structure of the travel and tourism industry. He explains: “It is  like a top-heavy pyramid. There are lots of small operators and there is very little lower down. If you compare it with the motor industry or pharmaceuticals, tourism is not even on the radar when it comes to how it is viewed among  politicians.”

Perl believes the UK tourism industry would be better prepared to deal with crises if trade associations from all sectors worked together more closely. “It’s particularly important with issues such as swine flu,” he stresses. “But this is not specific to the travel trade. I think most industries are poorly prepared.”

Travel association ABTA has already stepped up its work with the Foreign Office in an attempt to avoid problems in destinations overseas being blown out of proportion.

“The Foreign Office now consults us when it is planning to change its travel advice to a destination,” explains ABTA spokesman Sean Tipton.

“The advice itself has also become far more specific. Whereas several years ago the FO would probably advise against travel to the whole of a country if there was a problem, now they are more likely to limit the advice to whichever part of the destination is affected.”

ABTA can also help destinations to overcome frenzied media coverage of a disaster or scare. “After the 2004 tsunami, the Thailand and Sri Lanka tourist boards said the problem they were having was fighting the perception that the whole of both countries had been hit, which was not true,” says Tipton.

“We worked very closely with both countries in getting the correct message across. We did hundreds of interviews with radio and television stations, magazines and newspapers.

“After a disaster such as the tsunami, many people think they can’t visit the destination concerned because they would be imposing on people’s grief. In every media interview we did, we not only stressed that large parts of Thailand and Sri Lanka had not been hit by the tsunami, but we also talked about how many locals relied on tourism for a living. We pointed out that if holidaymakers stopped going to these countries, livelihoods would be put at risk.”

The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has ramped up its crisis management since the tsunami. Major initiatives include the Tourism Emergency Response Network, a closely-knit grouping of leading travel bodies, including the IHRA and the American Hotel and Lodging Association. “It enables the associations to exchange instant information so that
at a time of a crisis, we are all giving a clear, concise and accurate message,” explains UNWTO assistant secretary-general Geoffrey Lipman.

Information at your fingertips

UNWTO has also established SOS.travel, an online “one-stop shop” where member states can access the latest information and communication tools in anticipation of, or in response to, a natural or man-made crisis. Destinations can also use the site to create their own special standby web pages that are ready for when a crisis occurs.

Lipman says the initiatives are particularly relevant in light of the health scare surrounding the H1N1 virus. “The most important thing when you are faced with something like H1N1 is getting fast and accurate information,” he explains.

“We can’t afford to be an apologist for the tourism industry. There are times when you have to issue a press release, yet with H1N1, we know that we don’t know everything. So you have to be careful, accurate and truthful in what you say. If you are not, the message you put out today may well turn out to be nonsense tomorrow.”

Love it or hate it, you can't silence the media

But it is media coverage of terrorism that is often hardest for destinations to counter. Since 9/11, the US – one of the few countries without a national tourist board – has struggled to get its tourism message across in the face of tighter border controls, stricter security checks and a Bush administration that was widely disliked overseas. Even before the recession hit, visitor figures to the US had not returned to pre-2001 levels.

Stella Clery-Ackland is managing director of Cellet Travel Services, a Warwickshire-based marketing and public relations agency with a wide range of US tourism clients.

“The first thing we did after 9/11 was to call all our clients and ask them not to make any rash decisions. We knew their first tendency would be to become like hermit crabs and close the borders,” she recalls. “We also had several journalists out in the US so we made sure they were being well cared for before we worked on getting them home. Then we tore up all our sales and marketing plans because we realised that when it came to the US, we were going to have to start all over again. It was a matter of going back to basics.”

Cellet called on a core group of tour operators to the US for advice on the timing of new campaigns. Clery-Ackland explains: “At first the operators said it was not worth doing anything because their phones had stopped ringing. Then one company contacted us to say they had just had a call from someone interested in booking a holiday to the US. That’s when we knew that the public was starting to think that it was OK to travel to the US again.”

Clery-Ackland says one of the biggest challenges was overcoming press reluctance to carry travel features about the US so soon after 9/11. She continues: “A lot of the media was only interested in the doom and gloom coverage. That made it hard for us to persuade airlines to come up with press tickets so that we could get travel journalists out to the US.

“We wanted to show journalists that their readers could still have a good time in the US, but the airlines were asking us why they should hand out tickets when the press was giving the country such a hard time. I think it took two to three years to get the airlines and the media really working together again.

“Initially we concentrated on the travel editors that we already had a very good rapport with. They were brilliant. They went out to bat for us and helped to get across the message that travelling to the US was not as difficult as was being made out."

But it has taken the US hospitality sector eight years to convince Congress of the importance of having a national body to promote tourism to the country. Intense lobbying of Washington by the US Travel Association looks like coming to fruition, with the Senate expected to approve the Travel Promotion Act by the end of this year.

The act could net up to US$200 million for overseas marketing. Some of the money is likely to be spent on overcoming misconceptions about visas and other security issues that are thought to be deterring holidaymakers from visiting the US.

Damaging rumours fuel fear

“Communication is the crucial link to tackling media sensationalising,” says Rick Webster, US Travel Association vice-president of government affairs. “We want to have open lines of communication with journalists so they are properly informed. Equally, we want the public to be making decisions based on facts and not on fear or rumour.”

One destination able to sympathise with Webster is Istanbul, which over the last few years has seen its tourism business hit by media coverage of events including bombings, a major earthquake and bird flu.

“There is no way you can overcome the media hype during a big crisis,” claims Hasan Dinc, managing director of ODS Turkey, one of the city’s largest ground handlers for conventions and incentive travel.

“It is a matter of time. You have to watch carefully and ensure you are fully prepared to act as soon as the coverage starts to die down. But while the coverage is at full blast, you need to be on call so that you can answer questions from clients and reassure them.”

With every emergency faced by Istanbul, Dinc senses that people are becoming more rational about how the press reports on crises. “Since 9/11, people are more aware of how the media overdoes its coverage,” he claims. “We are noticing that each time something happens, fewer clients cancel straight away. They wait to get a more balanced picture before they make any decision.”

It doesn't rain, it pours

For destinations recovering from disasters, the global recession has been a double whammy. The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans is one of the last major properties in the city to re-open after Hurricane Katrina. Closed for four years while it underwent a US$145 million renovation, it began welcoming guests again this summer as part of Hilton Hotels corporation’s Waldorf=Astoria portfolio.

But just as New Orleans’ hospitality industry was showing signs of returning to pre-Katrina levels, the recession has forced businesses in the city to re-think their marketing plans. “This is not the most robust economy in which to re-open a hotel,” admits Roosevelt sales and marketing director Mark Wilson.

“It’s made harder by the fact that we are still trying to explain to the media that New Orleans is ready to service leisure customers and conventioneers again. Bit by bit, the story is trickling through and we hope the fact we have spent US$145 million on this hotel will help to reinforce the message that the city is back to normal now.”

In light of the economic downturn, the Roosevelt is focusing its initial marketing efforts on the regional self-drive market in nearby states such as Texas. “Fortunately, that market is well aware that New Orleans is fully open for business so we don’t have the Katrina image to overcome. It could be different when the economy improves and we go after the international market in Europe and Asia.”

Monitoring online 'gossip' channels

Now social media such as Twitter is presenting a new challenge to the hospitality industry when it comes to damage control. Citizen journalism has led to a modern-day game of Chinese whispers, where rumour can become fact at the touch of a few keys – such are the positives and negatives of social media, says Judy McCluskey. “It can be a valuable tool for getting your message heard but it’s also impossible to control.”

“Twitter became big news once journalists realized its power as a tool for breaking stories during the Mumbai Massacre in 2008”, says Australian journalist and journalism academic Julie Posetti.

“In the aftermath of the micro-blogging platform hitting the headlines, there was an explosion of professional journalists in the Twittersphere. This growth has been fuelled by increasing mainstream awareness of the importance of social media to the future of a crisis-ridden industry and the elevation of Twitter as a platform for news dissemination, citizen journalism and audience interaction.”

All the more reason for recalling former UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s famous words when asked what represented the greatest challenge for a statesman: “Events, dear boy, events.”

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