CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO CCM

Introduction
The Tourism Industry is considered as one of the fastest growing industries in the world. With
this, it cannot be denied, that the industry can also be a major contributor towards economic growth and
development. However, it is also an industry vulnerable to crisis and disaster. Not only because of the
interrelationship between its various sectors but is also relies greatly on and is impacted by many external
factors such as the currency exchange rate, the political situation, discretionary income, the environment,
and the weather (Brent Richard,2015).
CRISIS AND DISASTER
- Crisis comes from the Greek “krisis”, which means differentiation or decision.
- The Asia Pacific Travel Association define crisis as “any situation that has the potential to affect
long-term confidence in an organization or a product, or which may interfere with its ability to
continue operating normally.” It is the term which applies to both tourism destinations and
individual businesses where the confidence in tourism is affected and where the ability to
continue normal tourism operations is impaired.
- A crisis is “an event, in whatever form it occurs, that creates a shock to the tourism industry
resulting in the sudden emergence of an adverse situation” (Eric Laws, 2007) while disaster is
defined as a serious disruption to community life which threatens or causes death or injury in that
community and/or damage to property which is beyond the day-to-day capacity of the prescribed
statutory authorities and which requires special mobilization and organization of resources other
than those normally available to those authorities.
- Crisis can also be defined as a critical situation which may become a disaster or catastrophe if not
given appropriate and timely response. A disaster is a situation which exceeds normal response
capabilities.
CRISIS IN TOURISM
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) identified five (5) types of crisis
affecting the tourism industry namely: (1) environmental crisis, including geological, extreme weather,
and human-induced events; (2) Societal and political events; (3) health-related crises; (4) technological
incidents or failures; (5) economic events. This Statements of UNWTO supported the study of Henderson
in 2007 which also specified that causes of many tourism crises can be traced to developments in the
economic, political, socio-cultural and environmental domains, which affect demand and supply in
generating destination countries.
1. Environmental Crisis
This can also be referred to as “crisis of consciousness”, wherein people know the natural world
is facing great challenges and degradation, but few possess the knowledge as to the true extents of the
challenges and deprivation the environment faces and its extended effects on human welfare and all other
life on earth. According to the World Health Organization, “climate change affects the fundamental
requirements for health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter, thus reducing
emissions of greenhouse gasses through better transport, food and energy-use choices can result in
improved health”.
2. Societal and Political Events
 This can come from of, but not limited to riots, crime waves, terrorist acts, human rights abuse,
coups, violently contested elections which may all affect the tourism industry in a way or another.
3. Health-related Crises
The Tourism industry has been a great contributor in the development of a country; however, the
recent outbreak of COVID-19 brings the industry to a standstill. The tourism industry and governments
worldwide must respond to a pandemic of a deadly disease which could resonate for many months and
have serious balance of payments implications. Deterioration in public hygiene and infectious disease can
also lead to a tourism crises.
4. Technological Incidents or Failures
Technology made travel easier and faster. However, we cannot deny the fact that at certain point,
technology do fail, which may lead to catastrophic incidents and will worsen problems experienced by
travelers. Technological crises are initiated when technology in an assortment of manifestations fails to
perform as expected. Human error is often a compounding factor, or even a principal cause, in these and
all forms of tourism crises.
5. Economic Events
Global economic crisis significantly affects the industry. This can come in the form of economic
downturn or recession, fluctuating exchange rates, loss of market confidence and withdrawal of
investment funds.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Crisis management is defined as “strategies, processes and measures which are planned and put
into force to prevent and cope with crisis” (UNWTO, 2011). This process involves understanding how
businesses react to crisis, what measured need to be taken and what effect these will have.
As specified by Faulkner (2010) most crises cannot be predicted and many cannot be avoided,
meaning that no destination is immune from them. Tourism managers and researchers therefore need to
understand the potential nature of crises and their possible development and magnitude.
The durations of crises can vary considerably. Some cam be of rapid and unexpected occurrence,
while others can be much slower to build up. In both cases the effects can be sustained. Crisis
management can therefore be seen as process of identifying potential risk events and quantifying these in
terms of the likelihood of occurrence and of the influences it can have on a business. The crisis
management process therefore covers not only risk identification, but also crisis assessment, crisis
response, development and risk control or strategy.
The areas of crisis management include: anticipative form of crisis management which is
commonly apply for potential business crises; preventive crisis management wherein an existing but not
yet recognized crisis should be tracked down with the help of an early warning system; repulsive crisis
management should be viewed as crisis management aimed at maintaining the business and refers to
crises that have already occurred.
Crisis management undergo three core stages – Pre-crisis (preparedness and prevention), Crisis
Response (managing the actual crisis), and Post-crisis (recovery and analysis).
CORE STRATEGIES OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT
In the Philippines, the National Crisis Management Framework was developed to provide a
comprehensive approach to understanding the components of a crisis or the 5Ps of crisis management:
Predict, Prevent, Prepare, Perform and Post-Action and Assessment.
Predict – Predictions are attempts to remove uncertainty from the future. It scans the environment,
identifying weak signals, drivers, inhibitors, wildcards, threats, hazards, risk, opportunities and
vulnerabilities, among others, develops foresight and conveys strategic warnings.
Prevent – Prevention is a deliberate action aimed to avoiding future harm be addressing its causes. It is
closely related to mitigation, which accepts that a potentially harmful incident cannot be prevented, but
harmful consequences arising from it can be minimized through precautionary measures.
Prepare – It covers six (6) essential activities: Plan, Organize, Train, Equip, Exercise and Evaluate and
Improve.
Perform – This is the actual implementation of contingency plans. Once a crisis occurs, priorities shift
from building or enhancing capabilities to employing resources to save lives, protect property and
environment, and preserve the social, economic and political structure of the jurisdiction.
Post-Action Assessment – Post-action is a component which begins when the crisis has been addressed
and the situation is deemed clear. It is in this phase where the organization is returning to its normal
operation.
In addition, Crisis Action Planning has also been created as a guide for immediate response to
situations completely unforeseen. Crisis Action procedures describe courses of action to be undertaken
from the time a crisis occurred until it is resolved. The procedure are categorized into three (3) phases;
Situation Awareness, Planning, and Execution.

SYNTHESIS:
The difference between a crisis and a disaster should be well established to determine efficient
ways on how it can be addressed. Understanding the various crisis, we have in the tourism industry can be
used to identify fundamental requirement which should be made available in any organization to ensure
that there will be minimal damage and loss of property if such crisis occur. Knowledge on crisis
management is important as it prepares the people in the organization to face unexpected developments
and adverse conditions. As such, those involved will be able to adjust well to the sudden changes in the
organization.

PHASES IN CRISIS MANGEMENT

Crisis management is a diverse range of strategies that help an organization deal with an
unexpected negative event that might cause significant damage. Crises occur for many reasons, including
natural disasters, information leaks and security breaches, public defamation, lawsuits or violence, and
acts of terrorism to name a few.
Importance of Crisis Management
Crisis Management is the task of minimizing if not successfully elimination effects of a crisis
event using limited resources under extreme time constraints. Though damage control can be an obvious
aspect of crisis management, its true fundamental nature can be more than that. The importance of crisis
management is identifying the possibility of finding a solution through careful planning and execution of
the plan. The ultimate aim of crisis management is to overcome the dangers posed by the crisis and
minimize damage. Crisis management require some basic steps which can be checked off before the crisis
even hits.

Steps in Crisis Management

- Perform thorough risk management and identify the types of crisis you are most likely to
encounter. Plan for as many as possible.
- Appoint various crisis communicators.
- Train spokespeople to address various factions, such as the press, social media, shareholders, etc.
- Creating notification systems that will help you automatically respond to various crises (think
SMS texts, emails, blogs posts, etc.)
- Assess the crisis to determine how best to respond to the exact situation you are facing.
- Adapt your messaging to fit the situation.
- Make things right with stakeholders in whatever way necessary. Tie up loose ends and move
forward.
- Analyze the situation to learn exactly what contributed to the crisis, what went well and what
could be done better next time.

Overall, the primary goals of crisis management are to:

- Inform the general population about the emergency situation in a straightforward and confident
manner.
- With meticulous fact-checking, respond as truthfully as possible.
- Public health safety information, such as a product recall, should be communicated as soon as
possible.
- Email, social media, and other forms of communication can all be used to reach your target
audience.
- Create a narrative that shows the organization is operating in the best interest of the community.
- For the sake of team cohesion, adhere to any crisis management strategies in place.
- Use what you’ve learned from previous events to predict and plan for future events.

Phases in Tourism Crisis Management

When a crisis affects the tourism indust0ry, governments and bodies must ensure that tourism
stakeholders are included in crisis management planning alongside civil defense and community response
groups. It was observed that in most tourism system, the public sector has the necessary resources, long-
term view and balanced approach towards all stakeholders to provide the strong leadership essential for
the success of the tourism industry, thus (UNWTO, 2017) recommends that the national tourism authority
for each country forms an executive committee or task force responsible for risk management in key
areas.
Table 1. Tourism Crisis Management Framework

No. Phase Principal Strategies & Actions Key Stages

1 Pre-event Contingency Planning Prevention based on
known information
2 Prodromal (onset of Initiation of contingency plan Response
crisis)
3 Emergency Protective actions during crisis Response
4 Intermediate Short-term needs addressed, clear Response
communication strategy in place
5 Recovery Restoring infrastructure, facilities and Stimulation of
attractions, coordinated & sustained recovery
marketing response

6 Resolution Review of actions to feed into further Prevention based on

contingency plans new learning

Phase 1: Pre-crisis Stage (Pre-event)

Before any crisis occurs, the government-led task force should work with businesses and trade
associations to prepare sector-specific plans. The more detailed the pre-event planning, the more likely it
is that the outcome will be effective. The planning process should be informed by understanding of
market responses to different types of crisis. Scenario planning is a useful approach, based on examining
how elements of the tourism system interact with the wider societal and economic context. Once the risk
and possible crisis are identified, plans should be established for each possible event, including specific
communications plans: Walters et al(2016) report on the reputational damage which can be caused by
sensationalist reporting, and a clear crisis communications plan minimize such threat.
Phase 2: Prodromal Stage
Once an emergency has begun to develop, a competent and speedy response may prevent it
spiraling into a full crisis. Not all businesses or even government departments will necessarily be
immediately aware of the situation, so they will need to be warned. The principal actions in this phase:
1. Increase frequency of communications between members of the tourism sector task force, with
instructions to member bodies to stand by for action.
2. Crisis management plan of businesses should be in their operational phase.
3. Pre-prepared messages which will be issued to the media and the general public should be finalized.
4. Activate a communications center to handle enquiries from relatives of people affected by the incident
and mitigate damage to the destination’s image.
Phase 3: Emergency Stages (immediate crisis response)
Key actions at this stage are to:
1. Increase frequency of communications between members of the tourism sector task force, with
instructions to member bodies to stand by for action.
2. Ensure safety and welfare of staff by transferring non-essential members outside the affected area.
3. Carry out emergency infrastructural repairs.
4. Issue regular updates on the situation via the crisis communications center, with transparent and
accurate messages. Openness to enquiries is vital to restrict sensationalist and inaccurate reporting.
5. Rapid and honest communication by business with booked customers to advise on the situation, either
encouraging them to continue with their visit to an unaffected part of the country, or offering a refund or
alternative holiday at a later date.
Phase 4: Post-crisis (intermediate, mid-term)
Efforts to ensure recovery should accelerate as soon as the emergency phase is over. Government
commitment to the tourism sector and leadership is essential. Until repairs are made to the key
infrastructure and facilities used by tourist in the affected area, efforts to promote the recovery of the
destination should be limited to unaffected areas. Whatever the crisis, the optimal response is to provide
timely information that is accurate, credible, and transparent, enabling stakeholders to act it on and
prospective visitors to make informed decisions and modify their travel arrangements to ensure their
safety. Communications should be directed at the trade (tour operators, travel agents, conference
organizers) and individual tourists. Business owners and managers can focus on limiting the physical and
reputational damage to their business.
Phase 5: Post-crisis recovery (long term)
The intermediate stages of crisis management will evolve into longer term measures in six key
areas:
1. Plan for infrastructural improvement.
2. Adjust investment conditions through fiscal and other incentives to influence the scale and timing of
future investments.
3. Increase professionalism in tourism and hospitality, particularly to ensure that local people have the
skills to access jobs at all levels of the industry, as well as training frontline personnel in safety and
security procedures.
4. Address market perceptions to rebuild destination image through regular updates on websites and
Facebook pages about recovery, news of activities or festivals, familiarization trips for journalists and
bloggers, or webcams in the key locations showing that the area is safe. Comments should be accurate
and positive and focus not just on individual businesses but also other local businesses to show an active,
cohesive and attractive destination worth visiting. Islamic countries may wish to highlight traditions of
welcome and hospitality and other aspects of cultural and natural heritage.
5. the crisis may break the established mold of tourism, creating opportunities to develop in new
directions. Emerging trends, markets and new trade links should be reviewed and can be more readily
exploited at this stage. Targeting prior visitors, neighboring country tourists and segments that are less
susceptible to political unrest or disease outbreaks can be effective. Individual businesses should work
closely with the local DMO to ensure consistency of message.
6. Destinations can develop new products according to the available resources and in line with market
trends.
Phase 6: Resolution
Both public and private bodies should review the actions taken in the previous phases for
effectiveness and adjust, consistent with the resources available. Build resilience into individual
organizations and the wider tourism system through increased awareness of how to respond crises and
changing market trends and ensure that future planning takes account of past successful (and less
successful) strategies.
The key policies at this stage are to:
1. Monitor the success both short and medium-term measures (e.g. by research into visitor profiles and
satisfaction).
2. Evaluate longer-term measures necessary to rebuild the industry.
3. Modify future contingency plans based on lessons learned from the crisis.
SYNTHESIS
Crisis management is an important consideration in any organization for through careful
planning, damage associated with any crisis can be minimizes. A tourism crisis management framework
can come in six(6) phases. Understanding the stages of a crisis and the responses necessary from
stakeholders may lead to the prevention and ability to cope effectively with the crisis.
 CHAPTER 2: THE BASICS OF CM AND CM PLAN
What is Crisis Management?
- Crisis Management is the process of preparing for, managing, and limiting damage from
unexpected negative events at an organization. This practice includes anticipating threats,
developing strategies to minimize harm, and implementing these strategies when a crisis occurs.
- A universally accepted definition for crisis does not yet exist, however multiple authors and
scholars have presented their own ideas of the term, and these different definitions all share
similar characteristics.
- Keown-McMullan (1997,4-10) described a crisis as an event or phenomenon that either causes or
builds a foundation for a significant change to occur within the original environment. He went on
to describe crisis as something where the controlling party makes a realization that it cannot be
controlled and that it is a threat to the organization facing the crisis.
- The Cambridge Dictionary (2014) describes it as simply as “a time of great disagreement,
confusion or suffering”. Whereas the Collins English Dictionary (2015) defines it as “an unstable
period, especially one of extreme trouble or danger in politics, economics etc.” or “a crucial stage
or turning point in the course of something, especially in a sequence of events or a disease.”
- Crises share certain attributes regardless of the size or type of organization: A crises poses a threat
to the company, includes some element of surprise, requires action to change the course of events,
and demands fast decision-making.
- Emergencies can occur suddenly when an event happens that’s beyond the organization’s control,
such as an earthquake. Or a crisis can develop over time as a problem worsens because the
organization does not see or fails to act on warning signs. This category of smoldering or creeping
crisis includes problems like safety issues.
What is Business Crisis Management?
- Business crisis management is the series of actions that companies take to identify threats, plan
potential responses, and minimize disruption or losses to the business and its stakeholders in the
event of an actual crisis.
- A crisis can stem from internal or external causes and harm a business in multiple ways. The
fallout of a crisis often affects more than one dimension. Sometimes, the damage is so great that
the company cannot survive. Losses can include the following:

1. Customer flight
2. Damage to or destruction of assets such as buildings
3. Disruption to operations
4. Exit of key employees
5. Higher expenses
6. Legal claims
7. Loss of intellectual property and proprietary information
8. Loss of key products
 9. negative environmental impact
10. Physical injury to workers or other stakeholders
11. Reduced access
12. Reduction in sales and profits
13. Regulatory scrutiny and enforcement
14. Reputation harm
15. Weakened competitive position and erosion of market share
16. Weakened morale among employees

Crisis Management vs. Risk Management

In business, crisis management overlaps with risk management in that organizations use
both to consider what could go wrong and how to address it. But risk management focuses on
how to prevent crises while crisis management emphasizes how to react.
Crisis managers put the bulk of their effort into developing action plans for responding to
emergencies and executing these plans. Risk managers concentrate on ongoing ways of
preventing threats from arising. Risk management also has a broader remit, dealing with any kind
of challenge that could impair a company’s ability to meet its strategic objectives.

Four Ps of Crisis Management

The four Ps is a mnemonic that captures the essential element of crisis management
prevent, plan, practice, and perform. These terms remind companies to minimize threats, develop
crisis plans, rehearse these plans, and execute them effectively when needed.
Several variations on this list of Ps incorporate words like prepare, people, and post-event
review. A six-word version summarizes crisis management: Proper prior planning prevents poor
performance.
Jack Stack, CEO of Illinois equipment company SRC Holdings Corp., writes in his blog
that business developed another four Ps to survive the 2009 economic crisis and put these Ps to
work again in the 2020 global pandemic.
Those Ps include people(keep every employee informed and lines of communication
open), positive cash flow ( a critical focus to manage debt), practices (managing with
transparency and operating strategically), and positioning (find opportunities to position yourself
for growth).

Crisis Management is No Longer Optional

Many companies historically neglected crisis management, but experts say this became
increasingly risky as the landscape changed. Crises today can escalate more quickly, and the
survival of the business can be in the balance.

Among the forces at work are the following:

Globalization: Business are more dependent on suppliers and customers far from their home
bases and are more likely to have operations and employees at multiple locations and cross
borders. This type of expansion exposes companies to more complex risks and threats, and a
crisis can have a magnified, domino effect.

Technology: Information spreads almost instantaneously in a wired world., especially as social

media becomes a primary source for many people. Negative news and rumors disseminate
 quickly, giving companies very little time to perform damage control before customer flee,
reputations suffer, and sales plummet.

Rise of Novel Crises: The accelerated rate of change and growing complexity of global systems
have given rise to never-before-seen or once-in-a-generation crises. (Think of terrorist attacks, a
global pandemic, and wildfires linked to climate change). These demand that crisis managers
respond agilely with innovative solutions. To prepare for a novel crisis, companies need to
develop plans and build relationship, both of which take time.

Preconceptions Exposed as False: World events are showing corporate leaders that beliefs they
used to justify skimping on crisis preparedness are false. These ideas include:
- A crisis won’t happen
- A well-managed business doesn’t need a crisis plan.
- Insurance will protect the company against a crisis.
- The company doesn’t have the resources to do crisis planning.
- Business challenges deserve all of the company’s attention.

Types of Crisis
Crisis managers must anticipate events, and understanding the major types of crises is a good
precursor toc developing a threat list. For organizations, categories of crises may relate to the area of
operation or the nature of the crisis.
Boston University scholar Otto Lerbinger in his 1997 book, The Crisis Manager: Facing Risk and
Responsibility, divided crises into eight categories: natural disasters, technological, confrontation,
malevolence, organizational misdeeds, workplace violence, rumors, and terrorist attacks/man-made
disasters. Summaries of these and other types of business crises follow.
Natural Disaster: These crises often stem from weather and environmental conditions, including storms,
droughts, floods, and wildfires. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 is a memorable natural disaster.
Technological Crisis: These crises stem from technology issues such as hardware outages, software
malfunctions, network problems, data loss and breaches, and computer sabotage. The movement to cloud-
based storage and Software as a service (SaaS) makes companies vulnerable to technology malfunctions
that occur at their vendors. Big outages (such as a satellite or undersea data cable failure) can disrupt
many businesses simultaneously. The Experian data breach in 2017, in which hackers stole personal
information of about 148 million consumers, is an example of a technology crisis.
Confrontation: This type of crisis results from conflict between activists with a cause-related agenda and
companies or governments. These incidents include boycotts, protests, sit-ins, and other types of civil
disobedience. An example is environmental protesters who occupy trees to prevent commercial logging.
Malevolence: This type of crisis originates with hostile or criminal actions against a company and
sometimes has the goal of destroying it. These actions include cybercrime, product tampering, industrial
espionage, and executive kidnapping. For example, in attacks known as Night Dragon, hackers broke into
the computer networks of five major oil companies to steal proprietary information.
Organizational Misleads: Management causes these crises when it knowingly takes actions that harm
stakeholders or important third parties. These actions include deception, misconduct, and moves driven by
unethical or short-sighted values. An example of this type of crisis occurs when an executive accepts a
bribe to steer a contract to an unqualified bidder.
Workplace Violence: These crises are attacks by an employee or former employee on other staff
members at a company location due to anger related to attacker’s employment. (Other kinds of violence at
company sites against staff members, such as patients attacking healthcare workers, do not fall in this
category because the perpetrator is not an employee or former employee.
Financial Crisis: A financial crisis can be specific to a company, in which a business has as issue like
negative cash flow that impairs its ability to operate. It can also be national, regional, or global, such as an
economic recession thar depresses sales and causes stock markets to fall. Companies respond to financial
crises with short-term measures such as emergency credit lines and longer-term steps like business
restructuring, layoffs, and other cost-cutting. The 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers due to losses
incurred in the subprime mortgage market represents a financial crisis.
Personnel Crisis: These crisis are typically triggered by the loss of key staff members, such as a star
sales representative or a genius drug scientist. These key people can be poached rivals, counted by
headhunters, and tempted by creative opportunities or promotions. Of course, death and retirement are
factors too. Broader personnel crises occur when staff morale suffers, companies go through periods of
financial stress, and layoffs leave departments short-staffed. An example of a potential personnel crisis
occurred when Apple’s Head of Design Jony Ive left the company in 2019.
Crisis Based on Organization’s Degree of Fault: Scholar Timothy Coobs developed situational crisis
communications and attribution theories in crisis management, which you can learn more about in
“Models and theories to Improve Crisis Management”. Coobs found that the degree damage to a
company’s reputation and business corresponds to the public’s perceptions of the company’s culpability in
the crisis.
Victim Crisis: This category includes crises that view the company as being a victim of events outside its
control. Other examples are natural disasters, workplace violence, and unfounded rumors.
Accidental Crisis: In an accidental crisis, the company is responsible but did not knowingly or
intentionally cause the problem. Outbreaks of [Link] after people consumed meat contaminated with the
bacteria at fast food restaurants are good examples of an accidental crisis. Many product issues fit into
this type.
Intentional Crisis: These crises generate the most ill will toward organizations because they result from
intentional actions. Events involving malfeasance and negligence usually fall in this category, such as the
Volkswagen emissions scandal. Sometimes these crises are labeled preventable because they stem from
errors and mistakes.

How Crisis Management Works?

Crises never unfold exactly as anticipated, but the planning process develops crisis management
skills and a preparedness mindset. That way, you can deal with whatever happens more effectively.
“How to craft a Strong Crisis Management Strategy” explains the strategic responsibilities of
senior leaders in crisis management.
 A crisis management team needs to understand all the calamities that could befall their
organization, and that requires consulting operational staff, not just top managers. Once the team drafts a
crisi management plan, make sure to allocate adequate resources to train responders, acquire staff or
material that may be needed, and update the plan regularly.

Importance of Crisis Management

- Crisis management is crucial because the practice helps companies prevent or avert catastrophes,
minimize damage from those that are unavoidable, and get operations back to normal as quickly
as possible.
- Events such as 2020 global pandemic, California’s wildfires, and other disasters have driver home
the importance of vigilance and preparation. Being proactive is a basic survival skill.
- “Even now only about half of all organizations have any kind of crisis management plan. This
dearth of preparedness is simply no longer acceptable in a world where global crises are a painful
reality,” notes Deborah Hileman, President and CEO of the Institute of Crisis Management.
- Good crisis management is a competitive advantage. The Incident Command System, which
originated as a structure to streamline coordination of different agencies fighting California
wildfires, is becoming more widely adopted because it enables faster, more efficient responses.
- The private sector has enhanced the efficiency of Incident Command System with technology by
embedding features such as real-time incident status reports, dynamic organization charts, audit
trails of responses, and form generation.
Stages of Crisis Management
- A crisis management effort begins with designating a team leader. They will work through the
phases of identifying risks, developing and documenting response plans, practicing those plans,
implementing them when needed, and reviewing the results.
- Within these stages fall key tasks such as detecting warning signs, damage control, learning from
experience, and updating crisis plans as a result.
- Creating a crisis management plan is the most challenging part of your preparation.
- Communication is vital part of crisis mnagement.
Golden Rules for Crisis Management
Some pieces of crisis management wisdom are almost universally endorsed by experts and have
become unofficial rules. Learning them puts you well on your way to mastering crisis management best
practices.
Louis Carter, CEO of the Best Practice Institute, advises, “Accept responsibility. Admit if your
company made mistakes…. (Then) once the storm has passed, gather the team to discuss lessons
learned.”

11 Essential Rules for Crisis Management

1. Prepare and make crisis readiness an ongoing process.
2. Stay calm and convey confidence to others.
3. Gather clear and accurate facts about the crisis as soon as possible.
4. Prioritize people over property.
5. Don’t make things worse.
6. Communicate clearly and quickly, but a knee-jerk reaction.
7. Appoint one credible spokesperson and have consistent messaging.
8. Never, ever lie.
9. Make sure the crisis team has the support and resources it needs.
10. Don’t lose touch with your humanity. Recognize people are under stress and may be grieving.
11. Learn from the crisis and fix any underlying problems it revealed.

Michael Fagel, founder of emergency response consulting firm Aurora Safety, emphasizes the
importance of committing to crisis readiness for the long term. “Emergency planning is not a light switch,
and it’s not a magic wand. It’s a process,” he notes.
How Important is Crisis Management in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry?
In order to keep the healthy growth of travel and tourism, it is essential to make the destinations
safer and more secure; better prepared for any potential disaster risk to the visitors and to the industry.
Tourism crisis management entails developing measures, plans and manuals to promptly respond
to disaster event in an adequate way to minimize the negative impact to visitors and the tourism industry.
Well prepared destination and tourism business are quick to plan and take necessary actions for post
disaster recovery.
Crisis Management Plan
A crisis management plan is a structured plan that enables an event professional to respond to an incident
which may become a crisis if not rectified or is already a crisis that needs to be controlled immediately
(Bernabe, 2019).

A tourism crisis management plan should:

✓Describe activation procedures

✓Allocate crisis management roles and responsibilities
✓Identify control and coordination arrangements
✓Include standard procedures for the response to, recovery from crises
✓Identify operational information management requirements
✓Establish communication methods
✓Describe public relations and media management arrangements

Crisis management arrangements should ensure:

✓The safety of all persons residing within, working at, or visiting a tourism facility or destination
✓Minimal disruption to regional tourism operations visitors, staffs, and surroundings communities
✓Compliance with applicable legislations, regulations, and guidelines

The crisis management plan should contain classified crisis situations, appropriate contact person with
corresponding duties and responsibilities, crisis management centers, checklist, and guidelines in
handling the media, recovery and crisis operational procedure.

Table 3. Crisis Management Plan Checklist

One of the main objectives of a crisis management plan is to prepare the organization for any
unforeseeable event or disaster. Thus, a sound crisis management plan can minimize the impact of a crisis
to the various stakeholders of the organization. Planning must continue during crisis response and
recovery operations for the crisis management team to develop tactical plans (short-term plans) and
strategic plans (longer-term).

The key principles of crisis management in the Philippines recognize that our country, being an
archipelago, shaped the differences not only of the physical environment but also of the people residing in
it.
The eight (8) key principles are:
1. Whole-of-nation approach;
2. Strengthened inter-agency collaboration;
3. Efficient Situation Awareness:
4. Adaptable operational capabilities;
5. Tiered response to incidents;
6. Unity of effort Command; through Unity of
7. Readiness to act; and
8. Intensified public information campaign.
Crisis Communication Plan
The principles of a crisis communication plan must be established in advance of a crisis, the human
and financial resources of the crisis communications team. The key to good crisis communications is
identifying the risks and possible crises that could occur and developing specific plans for each event.
Timely, reliable, and accurate information should be made available specially in times of crises which
will enable all stakeholders to act accordingly. It has been observed that one of the most common
complaints after each crisis is the lack of information from the authorities.
The UNWTO outlines a model crisis communications policy, covering the preparation stage, human
resources, and training needs in its Toolbox for Crisis Communications released in 2011.
Responsibilities are allocated for the development of strategies, positioning and messages, while the
hierarchy of authority must be agreed in advance. Key contacts within the lead organization
responsible for the implementation of the crisis communication plan must be known to all members of
the team, as well as to other tourism stakeholders.

Table 4. Principles of Crisis Communications

Principle Actions

Appoint crisis communications Designate team members by area of responsibility, and ensure
team regular meeting and communications.

Appoint spokesperson Nominate spokesperson for all media interaction.

Background material Provide comprehensive background information and materials on

crisis management team and host organization online.

Develop messages Draft outline messages in advance of crisis. Once the crisis
occurs. Issue messages through designated spokesperson,
focusing on transparency and accuracy and avoiding speculation.
Share messages with other stakeholders.

Media access Establish crisis channels of communication (e.g. hotline to media

office), schedule frequent updates and access (e.g. press
conferences, releases).

Victim care Establish special communications channel and designate team to

work with affected individuals/families, establish procedures for
providing assistance and chain for rapid approval at highest level.

Internal employees Activate communications system with frequent updates to

communication employees only (email vuia internet, text messages).

Website/Facebook Activate dedicated crisis website (via pre-designated web-

master), update frequently, including prominent link to regular
website. Post updates on Facebook page.

Cross-functional integration All organizations team to be engaged in decision-making, at least

daily interface with crisis communications team.
 Quantity and Quality Ensure swift and accurate fact-finding channeled to crisis
communications team (through industry representatives on the
ground).

Monitoring Measures media and public exposure hits and perception, survey
post-crisis including at 3,6 and 12 months intervals, assess results
and develop recommendations for improvements.

One key to effective communication management is to ensure that cooperation does exist amongst
agencies and organizations.
It is essential that information be coordinated to the media through the designated spokesperson who
is credible and appropriately trained. Communication on security matters should be in response to a
relevant crisis. The spokesperson should demonstrate authority, but ensure there is balance by
providing sufficient information
 CHAPTER 3: ESTABLISHING A CM TEAM AND THEIR ROLES
The tourism crisis management process.
 In simple terms, the crisis management processes are concerned with identifying and
analyzing the risks to an organization or the community, and deciding what can and should be
done about them. They are logical and systematic problem-solving and decision-making
processes.
 The development and implementation of tourism risk management strategies which
comprehensively address potential risks to tourism are now becoming an integral part of
managing tourism in destinations. These tourism risk management strategies should link to
community disaster management plans and include actions which tourism operators and
organizations can take to complement the work of community disaster management agencies.

Risk management plans for tourism should provide, as appropriate and as a minimum, for:
 the safety of visitors and employees;
 secure systems to communicate with all persons within the facility and within the destination;
 security of buildings, facilities and equipment from the effects of the disaster,
 contributing trained liaison personnel to the disaster management agencies during response
and recovery operations, as required:
 supplying resources to support response and recovery operations; and
 procedures for return to normal business activities upon termination of the disaster
operations.

1. Communicate and consult.

Communication and consultation are enabling activities which are fundamental to risk management,
and they must be undertaken at each step in the process. A two-way process of interal and external
communication and consultation must be established and maintained between decision-makers and
stakeholders and a communication plan developed. and the measures which will be taken, and so they
contribute to the decision-making process.

Adequate and appropriate communication and consultation will also ensure that stakeholders have a
sense of ownership of, and commitment to, the tourism risk management process. It is essential to
document all meetings and discussions with stakeholders.

2. Monitor and review.

Monitoring and reviewing are enabling activities which are essential so that continual improvements
can be achieved and to ensure the currency and relevance of the tourism risk management process.
Systematic monitoring and review systems should be developed and maintained by.
  establishing arrangements for monitoring, reviewing and documenting risks as part of the
tourism risk management strategy;
 developing a risk register computer database:
 repeating the risk management cycle on a regular basis;
 measuring progress and incorporating it into management performance measurement and
reporting systems:
 evaluating lessons from review processes and incorporating them into plans; and amending
plans and procedures as required.

2.1. Establish the context.

This first step in the tourism risk management process is to establish the basic parameters or
framework within which the risk management activities will take place, and to develop the criteria
against which risk is to be evaluated. It includes identifying relevant policies, systems, procedures and
intra-organizational and inter-organizational relationships. The organizational context includes the
internal and external environment.

2.2. Identify risks.

Step 2 in the risk management process is designed to identify the risks which are to be managed. A
systematic process is necessary to ensure that all relevant risks are identified. Risk will change, so an
important part of monitoring and review processes is to identify new risks which have emerged for a
destination.

It is also essential to identify the susceptibility (the potential to be affected by loss) and resilience (a
measure of how quickly a system recovers from failure) of the destination. Part of the tourism risk
management process is to reduce the level of susceptibility and increase the resilience of the
destination.

2.3. Analyze risks.

The purpose of analysing risks is to develop an understanding of the risks the destination is facing.
This understanding will assist in the decision-making on which risks need to be treated and in
identifying the best risk treatment strategies to apply. The step includes analysing the likelihood and
consequences of risks, and also the existing control measures.

2.4. Evaluate risks.

Decisions have to be made about which risks have to be treated and in what order. The previous
activities in risk analysis will provide the information on which to make those decisions. Decisions on
risk treatment needs and priorities must be aligned with the destination's expectations, values and
perceptions of risk.
2.5. Treat risks.
Before risks can be treated it is necessary to identity the options available, to assess the relative merits
of each, and to select the most appropriate. Risk treatment plans should then be developed and
implemented.

"September 11th" - terrorism as a tourism crisis.

Terrorism is considered as one of the defining crises facing the tourism industry. Acts of terrorism,
which have been defined as 'a systematic and persistent strategy practiced by a state or political group
against another state or group through a campaign of acts of violence. To achieve political, social or
religious ends' (Pizam and Smith, 2000) have had a major effect upon tourism destinations since
before the end of the Cold War.

The impact was huge around the world, across the United States and particularly in New York
[Link] investment firms housed in the World Trade Centre lost hundreds of employees; stock
exchanges all over the world plummeted; travel and entertainment stocks fell, online travel agencies
particularly suffered, as they cater to leisure travel, Similarly, share prices of airlines and airplane
manufacturers plummeted after the attacks. Several airlines were threatened with bankruptcy. Tens of
thousands of layoffs were announced in the following week.

Tourism in New York City declined precipitously, causing massive losses in a sector, which employed
280,000 people and generated $25 billion per year. In the week following the attack, hotel occupancy
feil to below 40 percent, and 3000 employees were laid off. Tourism and hotel occupancy also fell
drastically across the nation. Following the crisis of '9/11' it can be seen that all tour operators took
slightly different actions and had different outcomes.
 Tour oporator
 Capacity
 Strategies
 Other comments
 TUIUK
 400 jobs have been lost which is party due to the name change to TUl. However, there could
be more job losses on the way.
 The group did not cut capacity sufficiently and hoped that there would be only 500 000 - 700
000 left to sell but instead there was 1 million
 They acted rapidly: cut costs and the number of holidays on sale. They started to promote new
global brands and offered up to 55% off holidays for 4 weeks.
 Retail staff told to clean their own branches.

First Choice
 500 jobs have been lost with the cuts expecting them to save £20 million a year
  Contingency plans to adjust capacity for the winter (by 15%) and next summer (20%), Also
cut the aircraft fleet from 32 to 26.
 They have cut costs and capacity. They have repeated a tried and tested theory but with less
spending.
 Greece and Turkey sold very well, although Florida suffered. Crisis cost them £10 million.

Thomas Cook
 1930 jobs were lost which included 60 UK managers. Staff offered unpaid leave, reduced
hours or voluntary redundancy. Pay cuts were up to 10% for remaining staff and 15% for
senior staff.
 Slashed summer 2002 capacity between 15 and 20%.
 Costs and capacity were cut with the plan to cut its role of sales administrators in the smaller
shops. They have focused on internal matters.
 Grounded some charter flights and closed 100 agencies after reporting a 12% fall in
bookings.

How to Establish a Capable Crisis Management Team?

Source: [Link]
Some major corporations have formal crisis management teams with very experienced employees that
have been exposed to various corporate crises throughout their careers. However, a significant number
of organizations don't have any crisis management capability at all. Or, if they have a capability in
place. they have a less-than-effective program because of poor planning, ineffective processes or just
the lack of knowledge and resources.

Mr. Rob Burton highlight six steps that will help you and your organization start to develop an
effective crisis management program, or update and improve your existing one. Rob, as a crisis
management consultant in Pakistan and Afghanistan where he negotiated with the UN and Pashtun
tribal warlords and he served with the United Kingdom Special Forces where he operated
internationally under hazardous covert and confidential conditions. Rob was also part of a disciplined
and prestigious unit The Grenadier Guards where he served Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Il at the
Royal Palaces in London. Rob was a highly trained and experienced infantryman serving in Desert
Storm and commanded covert operational teams and was a sniper. Rob has keynoted disaster recovery
conferences and participated in live debates on FOX News regarding complex security requirements
and terrorism. Rob has a Queen's Commendation for Bravery.

Step 1 - Understand Crises

The very first step in creating an organization that is ready to respond to any emergency is to
understand crises and how they may impact your organization. It is important to note that it is not just
the role of the leaders to understand what a crisis is, it also very important that everyone, including
critical vendors and partners, understands what crises are and how they may impact the organization.
its clients, other stakeholders and operations.

Step 2 - Create the Framework and Setting Policy Direction

Before an organization can start to evaluate risk and develop plans, it must first create a crisis
management framework (see image below) and set the policy direction which should come from top
management.

Step 3 - Create the Plan

Identify Roles and Responsibilities
Assessing which roles need to be part of the crisis management team and what the responsibilities
need to be is a vital step in the overall development of the crisis management capability. Roles and
responsibilities should be documented, and team members must have the skills, experience and
competence to carry out those roles and responsibilities.

Other key areas within the plan include:

 Horizon scanning process (how do you assess and mitigate risks before they appear?)
 Empower leaders to make decisions (policy from top management stating this is important)
  How and who sets up the command center during a crisis? (also see Step 4)
 Implement an information management process (how will you manage information and create
situational awareness during the incident?)
 Integrate crisis management activities with other critical plans such as Business
[Link] Recovery and Incident or Emergency Response Plans.
 Ensure leaders conduct regular briefings, document the events from the very first moment and
ensure everyone understands the common goal that the leader is trying to accomplish.

Step 4 - Develop an Incident Command System

This step is closely linked to Step 3. Some organizations use the Incident Command System (ICS)
which is very effective for any size of incident or for preparing a team for any emergency. There are
several different systems that all have similar strictures. Having an incident command system
increases an organization's chance of surviving a significant event and can limit the amount of
reputation and brand damage. A system like ICS ensures you're organized before the incident even
starts, which saves you time, especially during the early stages of the incident. ICS is a system that
scales with the event and can remain in place for long periods depending on the scenario, It can be
used for sudden emergencies (fire, explosion, hostile intruder) and it can be used for shouldering
issues that can become crises (cyber-attack, insider trading, and ethics violations).

Step 5 - Validate the Plan and Team

The crisis preparedness cycle never ends. It's on ongoing improvement process that should include the
validation of the crisis plan and the team that will manage the crisis. Starting with a tabletop exercise
and then increasing the stress testing to functional and eventually full-scale exercises will uncover any
gaps. and it will also allow team members to rehearse their crisis management roles.

Step 6 - Implement Changes and Re-evaluate

Like all other business processes, if there are gaps, you will need to make changes and then validate
those changes. Annual exercises will help you assess issues and gaps that could arise during real
emergencies or during your exercises. Only by evaluating your changes will you truly understand if
they will actually work.

When developing a crisis management team, the first step is to?

Here is how to get started:

1. Assess your risks.

The first step is a risk assessment, which identifies potential issues and crises that would disrupt your
business function and/or processes. Work with members of leadership, your crisis response team, and
other key stakeholders to begin listing all relevant threats and vulnerabilities that could impact the
organization. These might include public relations blunders, social media gaffes, product recalls,
cyberattacks, workplace Issues, and extreme weather events.

2. Determine the business impact.

A business impact analysis (BIA) qualifies the potential impact of a business-disrupting issue.
Completing a BIA can reveal a variety of impacts, including:
 Customer dissatisfaction or attrition
 A damaged reputation in the public eye
 Lost or delayed sales or income
 Increased costs
 Regulatory fines
A BIA is an important step to make sure your organization is truly considering every angle of a
[Link] also can help to make a business case to anyone who does not see the value of issue and crisis
management plans.

3. Identify contingencies.
Now that you have determined what risks could impact your business and how, begin identifying
which actions will help your organization to respond effectively to each threat. Think about the steps
that would be required to resolve the issue, what resources would be required, and how employees can
help.

For example, for the response to a social media blunder might include your digital team issuing
statements across all your social media platforms, while your customer service team is briefed on
what to say on incoming calls. Meanwhile, the plan for a product recall requires heip from IT and
logistics to determine how to fix the problem, while customer service, sales, and public relations work
together to answer customer questions and protect the company's good standing.

4. Build the plan.

Once you have determined a contingency for each potential threat, flesh out the plans by working with
relevant stakeholders. Key employees, such as department heads, can help to provide insight into
available resources and potential hurdles. You also may need input from outside parties, such as
contractors and partners that work closely with your business.

In addition, keep in mind any relevant regulatory requirements, and determine how you will continue
to meet them, even in the midst of a crisis. For example, if your organization must remain compliant
with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), be sure to account for
this in the crisis response plan.
5. Familiarize users.
It is important that all employees understand their roles during a crisis. Stress and panic can make it
difficult to remember your role in a crisis response. However, there are two ways to mitigate the
effects of stress.

First, ensure that your employees have the information they need. During the tense moments of a
crisis. people require immediate access to straightforward information. Consider ways to quickly and
effectively distribute a crisis playbook, such as through a crisis management app, which includes real-
time access to up-to-date documents, incident reporting, contact lists, messaging capabilities, and
collaboration tools.

Second, be sure to frequently train stakeholders on your issue and crisis management plan. Stage
regular drills and rehearsals to ensure that every individual is familiar with the plan, can respond
confidently. knows where to get additional information, and understands his or her role.

6. Revisit the plan frequently.

Once your plan is written and approved and has been tested, be sure to revisit it frequently, It is vital
to keep the plan up to date, especially as employees join or leave the company, new technologies are
implemented, and other changes occur. It is helpful to review and test the plan at least annually to
keep the content fresh.

This is another area in which an issue and crisis management app can help. The platform supporting
the app automatically pushes all updates to each user's smartphone, so you can rest assured that all
stakeholders have immediate access to the most up-to-date resources, no matter when they require it.
It a PR nightmare or a product recall strikes on a Saturday afternoon, your team still has immediate
access to the information to activate the response.

The Role of the Crisis Management Team (CMT).

Generally speaking, crisis management teams have a specific function and some roles that are
universal (for example, each team must have a designated leader and communications,
admin/logistics, and business or functional representation). The role of the Crisis Management Team
is to manage events and ensure appropriate actions are carried out based on the current impacts of the
event, as well as potential risks and impacts.

Multiple crisis teams may exist, with each activating and providing guidance depending on the
situation.
For example, IT may have a crisis team that activates related to actual or potential IT-related outages,
with no other area even being aware.
 1. People on the CMT need to have a global view of the organization as well as a good
understanding of the potential impacts and needs of their specific area.
2. Apart from the leader, people on the CMT act as advocates for their area; they gather
information on that area and make sure the impacts to it are understood and given due
priority. They lead or direct the recovery or actions for the area.
3. In large organizations, each of the areas would likely be filled by one person. In medium and
small organizations, the roles might be doubled or tripled up. The important thing is making
sure that each area has someone assigned to look after it.
4. CMT members are not expected to have all the information for their area of responsibility in
their head. However, they should know where to get their hands on it quickly should the need
arise.
5. Each CMT member is an advocate. The one who ensures each area's risk and impacts are
addressed and considered. They must also be able to consider the overall impacts and
understand when other areas or issues take priority.

 Leader
The CMT Leader manages the team, provides for the safety and well-being of employees, and
facilitates the timely resumption of business operations to minimize the impact of the emergency on
customers and shareholders.
The leader is the team facilitator, not dictator, encouraging discussion and debate to
ensure that important matters receive due consideration. He or she keeps the group moving forward,
then guides the members toward decisions that have broad support. It's important to remember though
that the leader has the final authority and may be required to make a decision quickly and with limited
information. There should also be a designated alternate to take over if the primary leader is
unavailable.

 Administrative Support
The Administrative Support person is responsible for supporting the CMT Leader and members. The
admin performs a function similar to that of the character Radar O'Reilly on "M"A*S*H": they know
where everything is and how to get things done. They take notes, keep track of action items and open
issues, and know-how to obtain food and transportation, line up hotel rooms, keep everything moving,
and make sure nothing is missed. Without an efficient and highly competent Admin Support person
the Crisis Management Team will not be as successful or effective. Do not underestimate this role.

 Finance & Administration

The primary function of the person in this role is to manage the organization's financial stability
during an event. He or she understands the impact of the crisis on finance and accounting matters,
including business process issues and regulatory compliance and reporting. In order to help the
organizations, weather the crisis, this person might make such decisions as raising credit limits or
delaying reporting.
  Human Resources
HR is responsible for the development and implementation of services designed to support affected
employees during and after the event. The person covering the HR area would be responsible for
temporary staffing, benefits issues, or bringing in grief counselors. The HR person is also involved (in
coordination with other departments such as Communications) in keeping employees informed about
relevant aspects of the crisis; for example, they might notify the employees that overtime requests are
approved for the next two weeks.

 Information Technology
The primary function of the IT person is to coordinate and provide context and information related to
the IT impacts associated with the event or actions. They direct the IT team as it works to restore
information systems and networks affected by the event. If the crisis impacts IT, the IT person
communicates these impacts to the larger team. He or she would also inform the team of the likely
impacts on IT of any decisions and actions taken to deal with the crisis. For example, if the crisis
management team was considering shutting down a building, such as during a fire, the IT person
could advise the team as to what the impact would be on the organization's computer systems and
processes.

 Legal
The member of the crisis team covering the Legal area provides advice and legal support to all CMT
members with regards to liability, communications, lawfulness, prudence, and legal ramifications.
They can advise on whether certain strategies under consideration are permissible under the relevant
laws or regulatory controls. They might advise the team about such legal matters as the need to
protect evidence.

 Operations and Business Recovery

The Operations role serves as the liaison between the CMT and the business recovery teams. The
person on the crisis team covering this area is likely to have a lot of input in the actions of the team
overall. He or she can provide the team with information on how the crisis is impacting the
organization on the ground, at the retail stores, distribution centers, or manufacturing facilities. They
can help the team evaluate proposed courses of action from the Operations point of view. As an
example, if changing the distribution center schedule is necessary. Ops can address the downstream
impacts.

 Project Management Office

The PMO supports the CMT through understanding the impact of the crisis (and any steps taken to
deal with it) on the various projects the organization has underway. He or she can advise the team on
which projects can be stopped or delayed with minimal impacts and which would bring higher
impacts.
  Risk, Security, and Compliance
The person on the team covering these areas will be the advocate for the teams dealing with risk,
compliance, and security at the organization (including physical and data security). He or she will
work closely with local, county, state, and federal law enforcement and investigative agencies. This
person can advise the team on whether any contemplated actions might put the organization out of
compliance with regulations from OSHA or other agencies. From the security point of view, they
would make sure the team attends to the security impacts of proposed actions. For example, if
someone wanted to leave the exterior doors in a facility open for some reason, they would point out
the need to station people there to protect those entrances.

 Facility Support
The Facilities team is responsible for conducting a Damage Assessment and identifying affected
infrastructure and the extent of damage caused by the event. The person on the team covering this
area makes sure that issues related to the organization's buildings are given proper consideration. He
or she attends to such issues as whether the buildings are safe and accessible and whether it's
necessary to move employees to other facilities.

 Marketing and Corporate Communications

The person on the CMT covering this area considers the impact of the crisis and any proposed
responses on the marketing and communications functions. He or she works with other departments
such as Legal, Operations, and Human Resources to ensure consistency in communications
throughout an event. This includes communications to staff, shareholders, the media, and maybe even
Wall Street. This person tackles such issues as, for example, what to communicate and to whom if the
crisis causes loss of life.

Whether you have a big Crisis Management Team, with each role being assigned to a different person.
or a smaller team, where each member handles multiple roles, these are the basic functions that need
to be taken care of to make sure your crisis team is effective.

10 Characteristics of a Successful Crisis Management Team

1. Supported by Senior Management and Empowered to Act: The senior team does not have to
always be a part of the Crisis Management team, but they do need to support those best able
to perform the necessary functions, provide visible support of the team, and allow them to act.
2. Proactive in Activation - Not Afraid to Activate: An effective Crisis Management team will
come together when the possibility of an event exists, not just when a crisis occurs. It is easy
to disband the team or set a trigger event to reconvene; it is impossible to turn back the clock.
3. Do Not Manage by Title, but by Ability to Lead: This may be the rarest characteristic, but it is
the most impactful. Egos and titles are of little use during a crisis event. Calm, clear, decisive
and reasoned actions are necessary. Those with the proper level of knowledge are needed.
This may mean including individuals who normally perform different roles. Use a
competency-based leadership model to develop team members.
 4. Roles are Well Understood: Crisis Management team members regularly review their roles
and responsibilities, consider how to best perform their tasks/role, and educate themselves on
things they do not know.
5. The Team is Scalable Depending on Need: Often both core and expanded teams are
[Link] the core team needs assistance, they do not have to figure out who to bring in.
They already have most additional needs identified and documented, both internal and
external resources (vendors, consultants, etc).
6. Exercises and Training are Held Regularly: Minimally, exercise should be held annually, but
shorter, more frequent exercises can have a great impact.
7. Depth Across Primary and Secondary Resources: The secondary (or backup) team members
understand their roles and responsibilities at a similar level as the primary, and are an equal
part of the exercises and training
8. Follow Established Incident Principles and Priorities: The team should follow the
organization's documented principles and priorities for the incident management process.
9. Follow a Comprehensive Crisis Management Plan: While not every event or action can be
listed in a plan, basic actions and decisions should be included to allow for more effective
problem solving and decision making. Speed is often critical; many items can be pre-defined
and adjusted as needed.
10. Use a Standardized Decision-Making Process: Identify a decision-making process, such as APIE,
and include the use of it in all training and exercises.

The continued development of these Crisis Management team traits will provide the leadership base
and support for the organization, teams, and individuals performing recovery actions, supporting
customers, and keeping the business functioning during a crisis event, making the overall response
more effective and functional.

SYNTHESIS:
Crisis preparedness is vitally important for all tourism organizations to avoid bad publicity and
damage to the viability of the business. The success in dealing with the crisis event lies within
effective pre-crisis planning. Furthermore, it is important that lessons are fed-back into the company
once the immediate crisis is over, as the crisis management model presented implies, crisis
management is a continuous process involving a feedback loop back to the pre-crisis stage once the
crisis is over. This enables organizational learning to take place whereby companies are able to
improve their performance through learning from mistakes and preparing for the next potential crisis.
 CHAPTER 4: PUTTING CRISIS MANAGEMENT INTO ACTION
Practice the Plan
The adage that practice makes perfect is applicable to crisis situations. If you've never faced a crisis
situation or your organization hasn't dealt with a serious crisis in the past two years, you need to
practice.
Running through your crisis plan with a real-world scenario will make everyone sharper, It also can
help identify areas for improvement in your plan. To be effective, organization leaders should be
involved as well. Spending a few hours practicing a scenario is well worth the effort. If you don't
already, plan to schedule a crisis scenario session once a year.

Gather Your Team

When a crisis hits, the first step should be to gather your Crisis Leadership Team. This team should be
outlined in the crisis communications plan and can be assembled even as you're gathering details on
the crisis. The Crisis Leadership Team will vary by organization, but often includes company leaders
(CEO, COO, CFO, etc.), internal communications and human resources leaders, and external PR
agencies.
This is the team that will evaluate the crisis, plan next steps, and craft ongoing messages to key
audiences.

Follow the Plan

This sounds straightforward and as though it wouldn't need to be stated, but it does. I've seen many
instances in which a well-defined plan is ignored or thrown out the window when emotions spike
during a crisis. You have a crisis communications plan for a reason. Use it. Don't forget that the plan
was developed in a thoughtful process because you don't want emotions overtaking your decisions
during a crisis. This is another reason practice sessions matter. Everyone can get comfortable with the
plan, The most effective crisis responses are those that follow an established crisis communications
plan.

Debrief Later
After crisis as subsided, it's important to bring stakeholders together to debrief the experience.
Schedule this meeting within two weeks after a crisis is contained for resolved. Some crises will have
long time frames and for those cases, organize the debrief after an initial crisis event. This is the ideal
time - not during the crisis - to review the plan's effectiveness. What worked? What didn't? Have an
oper conversation and solicit constructive feedback.

Update the Plan

Don't forget to update your crisis plan after the debrief session. Again, this seems self-evident, but
you'd be surprise how many people forget this step. Share the revised plan with an organization's
leadership.
Once the revised plan is approved by key leaders, share the new version and replace any old versions.
Finally, keep the most recent version of the plan easily accessible to ensure no confusion.

Tourism as an industry has many characteristics that can make a crisis more probable, magnify the
impacts of a crisis and attract extreme media coverage for the event.
 Firstly, tourism is big business and often cited as the 'largest peacetime industry' and tourism
is also advocated as the industry offering sustainable (and quick yielding) development
opportunities to the least developed countries.
 Secondly, the tourism industry is highly integrated with several other industries. In other
words, the ripples of a crisis event from the hotels' supply chain can result in a flood of
issues/problems for the business of providing hospitality.
 Thirdly, the tourism industry is about the movement of people (i.e. all individuals with the
means and motive to travel are potential tourists). Thus the variety of psychological or social
responses to unexpected events from the guests of an international hotel will challenge even
the 'best laid [crisis] plans' as well as the communications skills of experienced PR Managers
to maintain calm.
 Fourthly, since the consumption of a tourism product requires the customer to travel to a
destination the demand for tourism products is sensitive to reports on security and health
issues; and finally, many tourists are attracted to fragile locales particularly vulnerable to the
forces of nature (e.g. tropical weather, proximity to sea and even seismic activity) or
destination with low degree of infrastructure development (so called 'unspoilt destinations).

Moreover, tourism participation is a discretionary activity for most international travelers, many
countries (or destinations) have invested heavily on new campaigns in order to acquire the misplaced
inbound tourists or to generate alternative demand from domestic travelers. Therefore, in tourism
industry, it is no longer a question whether (a crisis] will arise, but when and how it will be dealt with
therefore hotels' crisis plans should be more generic in nature, thus offering personnel accepted
behavioral protocols without attempting to script for every eventuality. The wide variety of potential
crisis in the hospitality industry also supports this argument.
Managing costs - effectively during any crisis is probably the key to being able to remain in business
during and after crisis, as any reduction in hotel occupancy rates will translate into a drop in the
revenues.
However, this cost saving exercise should be conducted in a way that allows the hotel to bounce back
quickly once the demand for their services retums. For example, short term cost cutting can result in
years of Good Will from all stakeholders disappearing, thus resulting in difficulty in securing supplies
and recruiting personnel after the crisis is over. A key cost area for service industries is the payroll,
therefore if substantial cost cutting is required to survive the current crisis.

Maintaining good communication with guests. In a large hotel good customer records are the basis
for excellent customer relations. These records will allow the hotel to learn about their frequent guests
and to keep their loyal customers. However, such inside knowledge should not be used to exhaust the
guests with direct mail but rather preserve such communications for times when there is a need to
attract business. Furthermore, good guest history [and incident reports) also help dealing with
complaints that may be received later.

Use of technology to enhance hotel security. Technology can be used to enhance the overall hotel
security and cameras in corridors as well as other public spaces are the norm today. Well positioned
cameras and other visible security measures are welcomed by the guests as they increase the
perception of security. However, excessive use of cameras can give the impression of specific security
problems on the premises. Electronic key cards are also the norm today and the CCTV is viewed
invaluable in securing the hotel premises.

Recording security cameras at key positions, alarms and motion sensors indicating unauthorized
access, as well as digital monitoring of access to the premises, were nominated as common tools for
maintaining hotel security.

Finally, many types of technology were utilized by all interviewees in maintaining the hotel security,
and to some extent overt security measures facilitated by technology (e.g. electronic key cards,
security cameras in public places) are now expected by the hotel guests. However, the underlying
guideline for the use of technology in hotels was the need to 'protect the privacy of our guest'

Necessary Steps for an Effective Crisis Management Approach

 Leadership requires more capabilities that will keep you and your team calm, cool, and
collected regardless of the issue your department or company faces.
 First, there are specific steps that leaders will need to follow in terms of crisis management.
Additionally, there are ways that managers can avoid crises such as being prepared ahead of
time.
 Lastly, there are specific skills such as decisiveness all company leaders will need to have in
order to be effective managers for their teams.
The following ideas will be described in detail to help you better understand crisis management and
leadership skills.
 Create a plan
 Designate a spokesperson
 Be transparent and honest
 Inform employees on all relevant details
 Keep the lines of communication open with customers and suppliers
 Update your community early and often
 Use social media as another excellent form of communication

When creating a plan, set out the objectives you wish to achieve. One of the key objectives should be
to keep employees, customers, and the general public safe. Other objectives are to keep everyone
informed and ensure your organization survives the crisis. Essentially, your plan needs to have
specific actions that will be taken in the case of a specific crisis.

If a specific crisis has made an impact on the health or well-being of the public or your workers and
customers, it may bring your company into the spotlight and attract media attention. To have a
consistent message in response to the crisis, it is essential to designate a spokesperson to discuss the
situation on behalf of the company. This spokesperson will need to be prepared to answer questions
and take part in
interviews.

If you want the best image of your company portrayed through the media in the midst of a crisis, it is
essential for you to be open, honest, and transparent about everything taking place. Be open about the
severity of the issue as well as the steps your company is taking to fix the problem. Transparency will
ensure there are fewer rumors circulating regarding the crisis. Whether internally or through
interviews and social media, transparency will be essential.

Keeping your employees informed of the situation is also needed so that your internal business
processes flow smoothly despite the crisis. This will minimize potential rumors and keep employees
from fearing the worst, such as layoffs.

Your valued customers and suppliers should find out about the crisis from your company before any
media reports. Your crisis management plan will need to include how you will communicate with
customers and suppliers and how you will update them regularly.
It is also vital to communicate with your community on a regular basis. Be sure that everyone is aware
of new developments and don't forget to release summary statements and updated action plans. Since
the news of today is on a 24/7 cycle due to the growth of the internet, it is also necessary for your
company to be on the same page and release information as soon as possible.

Lastly, major events have shown that social media is an excellent place to disseminate key
information.
You'll need to develop a social media team of experts who can communicate about the crisis as well as
post and monitor social media activity during the crisis.

Crises in the tourism industry

 It has become clear that because of the characteristics of the tourism industry, it is very prone
to different types of crises. The nature of the industry involves a lot of external factors which
makes it vulnerable.
 The form that a crisis can take within the tourism industry is perhaps different than in other
contexts. One significant difference is that a tourism related crisis is not necessarily sudden or
unexpected. For example, global warming already has made an impact on the tourism
industry.
Because of the rising sea level some destinations are shortly facing tourism crises, even
though it is coming at a slow pace.
 Most of the crises that the industry faces do however come unexpectedly. Crises in the
tourism industry can be divided into eight categories; economic tourism crisis, political
tourism crisis. terrorism and tourism, socio-cultural conflicts and tourism, environmental
tourism crisis, tourism and health crisis, technological failure and tourism, and commercial
crisis (Henderson, 2007, 5-8).

Natural disasters
 These crises were chosen because of the large scale natural disasters that have already
occurred within the tourism industry. Such events include the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004,
hurricane Katrina in 2005, 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull and 2011 Tohoku earthquake
and tsunami. All of these natural disasters had a huge impact on the tourism industry. Natural
disaster has been defined as 'an event caused by forces of nature such as weather which leads
to a significant damage to the physical environment and may threaten human safety*
(Henderson, 2007, 100).
Natural disasters can be divided and categorized by multiple factors such as frequency,
durations of impact, length of forewarning and type of occurrence (Baskar & Baskar, 2009,
12), The two most common categories for natural disasters are climatic disasters and geologic
disasters, Climatic disasters are caused by extreme weather phenomenon and atmospheric
changes. Such disasters include hurricanes, floods and droughts. Hurricanes are storms that
form usually in the tropical parts of the world, where the water is warm. ([Link],
2014.)
 A hurricane is characterized by strong winds, thunder. 9 storms, heavy rainfall and have a low
pressured center (National Hurricane Center, 2014). Flooding is the result of excessive rain
and can in especially lower parts cause landslides. Draught is caused by the lack of rainfall
 and can result in discontinued water supply and unattractiveness of the environment.
(Henderson, 2007. 93.) It has been predicted that in the future droughts and floods will
become a larger natural disaster if global warming continues to be in effect (Henderson, 2007,
94).
 Therefore, the largest concern was to enforce a precaution system that would warn people of a
possible tsunami. Therefore, an alarm system has been installed to all shores, which gives out
a warning signal if a tsunami is approaching the shore. In addition, signs to the closest
tsunami evacuation point have been installed to a majority of the streets and alleys
surrounding the shores.
 The second largest impact after human lives was to buildings and other infrastructure. Many
insurance companies offer now a separate insurance for destruction done by tsunamis.
Multiple hotels and other services have taken this insurance into use, especially those located
near to the shore. In addition, a new type of mobile application has also been established
which warns its customers of a nearby earthquake, which could possible result in a tsunami.
However, this type of a software has been criticized since it is a not a free service, and thus
not everyone can afford it.

Tourism and Terrorism

 A standard definition for terrorism does not exist but it can describe as a premeditated act of
violence motivated by political or religious factors targeted at civilians with the goal of
influencing an audience (Henderson, 2007, 53). Ideological motives behind a terrorist attack
usually involve less casualties. This is due to wanting the attack to result in a political change
and these types of terrorist cells believe that casualties were not the way to go at it.
 Whereas a terrorist cell with a religious motive usually support acts 11 of violence which
results in as many possible casualties as possible. Loss of life, especially representatives of
another religion is not considered to be important, and in some cases it is even the goal to kill
"non-believers" of the terrorist's religion. (Terrorism Research, 2014.) One objective of
terrorists is to place in effect a new type of political philosophy. However, nowadays most
terrorist attacks are motivated by religion.
 In general terrorism threatens the safety particularly in political, economic and social fields.
Terrorism aimed at tourism can appear in many forms, such as suicide missions, hijackings.
bombing and shooting. (Henderson, 2007, 55.)
 The tourism industry is often associated with terrorism, and there are multiple reasons for it.
First of all, terrorists target the tourism industry because it is diverse and large in size. Hitting
the tourism industry has a large scale effect on not just one country, but multiple nations at the
same time. (Henderson, 2007, 55.)
 Another reason is that terrorism aims to economically disable their enemy country and by
executing an attack on tourists visiting the country, initiates a chain reaction, which results in
financially disabling the country hit. At first, a terrorist attack kills casualties which leads to a
creation of a negative image for the destination. This therefore results in a decrease in
tourism, which eventually causes a negative impact to the country's economy. (Henderson,
2007, 55.)
 When it comes to tourism and terrorism, the perhaps most effective way to prevent terrorism
from occurring is effective security measures at all tourism related establishments. At the
 moment, airports are the most secured places out of all tourism service providers, this is due
to the realizations made in lack of efficiency after the 9/11 hijackings.
 Security is tightened with the presence of air marshals, unbreakable cockpit doors, armed
pilots and military forces. In addition, passengers and luggage are screened in a more
thorough manner, sharp objects are forbidden in hand luggage and immigration and passport
controls have been made stricter.
 These types of innovations are also being introduced at accommodation providers, Tour
operators and travel agencies are also encouraged to advice their customers about security
matters.
(Henderson, 2007, 63-64.)
 Even though, the presence of such high security measures was in place for a reason it is
important for the officials not to go overboard with them. The presence of large numbers of
armed military forces and police officers may cause unnecessary feelings of insecurity within
tourists and act as reminders of terrorism. These security measures should be effectively used,
but they should not interrupt the general tourism experience to the point that tourists become
more anxious than they actually should be. (Henderson, 2007, 64.)

Personal security and tourism

 This section is a combination of different fears that tourist may have towards their personal
security when traveling. It includes issues such as health risks, crime and political riots.
 Health risks and tourism are these days highly correlated. The outbreak of multiple diseases
such as SARS, Swine Flu and most recently Ebola, have had an impact on a tourist's decision
making process. It is clear that such outbreaks of deathly diseases do have a negative impact
on tourists and their travelling habits. For example, the spread of pneumonic plague in India
in 1994 resulted in a 70% decrease in tourist arrivals afterwards.
 A similar outbreak of SARS in 2003 lead to a decline in the Canadian tourism industry as well
as large parts of East Asian tourism industry. Both of these outbreaks affected a rather small
quantity of people, yet they caused a mass decline within tourist arrivals. In the latter case, it
has been claimed that governmental advisories were partly to blame due to their overreaction
and exaggeration of health warning about ground zero of the outbreaks.
 Another large scale health crisis that is associated with tourism is the spread of HIV/AIDS.
This sexually transmitted disease is highly associated with tourism, as sex tourism is a rapidly
growing phenomenon within the tourism industry. Many tourists travel to especially Third
World Countries in persuade of sex. Sexually transmitted diseases are associated to these
destinations. For example, a 2007 study in Bangkok showed that 19% of sex workers carry
the HIV virus (Avert.
2012).
 However, these types of health risks are different to other diseases due to the somewhat
intentional nature that they are acquired through. Crime against tourist is also a known and
accelerating phenomenon in many travel destinations. Crimes against tourists usually include
theft, kidnapping and assault. Crime and its effect on tourists has also been researched, As an
example, it has been recognized that 22 million potential visitors were lost over a period of 5
years in South Africa due to the destination having a reputation for violent crime. (Botterill &
Jones,
2010, 189.)
  It has been recorded that it is of vital importance to tourists that they feel safe from crime in
their travel destination, and it does therefore affect their decision-making process.
Furthermore, it has been established that not being absolutely safe from crime during a trip is
a valid enough reason for tourists to turn to an alterative travel destination. (Baker &
Stockton, 2014, 3.)
 Crimes against tourists can be a phenomenon that decreases tourist arrivals, which is why it is
important to have a reputation that tourists will be taken care of and that local police are well
equipped to assist tourists who are victims of crime (Center for Problem-oriented Policing,
2015).
 Out of the multiple acts that fall under the term "crime", theft has been recorded to have the
highest connection with tourism. Tourists are very often victims of theft. However, tourists
can also be victims of other criminal activities such as physical and sexual assault, credit card
fraud and scams. (Huffington Post, 2014.) Finding accurate and comparable statistics of crime
rates against tourism from different destinations is challenging, even the international police
agency, interpol don't publish them anymore (Interpol, 2015). This is due to many reasons.
 First of all, not all tourist made reports of being victims of crime, thus it never reaches the
[Link], different countries have different definitions of what constitutes as a crime,
therefore they cannot be compared with each other. Lastly, confidentiality among
police and other criminal officials differs in different countries, thus reporting acts of crime can be
discouraging. (Huffington Post, 2014.) However, it has also been established that tourism related
crimes are at the highest in locations where the overall crime rate is highest (Center for Problem-
oriented Policing, 2015).
 The reason why tourists are often targeted by criminals is simple. First of all, tourists are
known to carry with them larger amounts of cash and valuables such as passports 17 and
[Link] of all, tourists are seen as relaxed and therefore off-guard because they are
vacationing. thus they are vulnerable. Sometimes tourists can even be careless. Thirdly,
tourists are not as likely to report actions of crime due to a fear of it altering their return back
home.
 Lastly, tourist visit places that are usually crowded with other people, such as tourist
attractions and hotels or dark nightclub scenes, where thieves can easily fade in. (Center for
Problem-oriented Policing, 2015; Huffington Post, 2014.) Some scenarios that are related to
crimes against tourists have also been listed by several sources. Tourists can be accidental
victims of crime. meaning they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 Location that a tourist visits can often be an easy scene for a thief, such a nightclub or a busy
restaurant. Due to the relaxed nature of a tourists, they are more prone to taking risks and
behaving in an unsafe way, which thus can lead to situations of crime. Tourist are also more
prone to be victims of crime because they can accidentally or adventurously visit dangerous
places in cities, leave valuable item for all to see and behave like a tourist. (Center for
Problem-oriented Policing, 2015.)

The list below includes different types of political disputes, which can be harmful to tourists:

 Riots
 Terrorism which targets tourists
  Armed attack events
 Political assassinations
 Bombings
 Change in the government
 Change in the political party
 Civil war
 Guerrilla warfare
 Hijackings
 Kidnappings
 Peaceful demonstrations
 Peaceful strikes
 Successful coup d'etat
 Mass arrests
 Unstable political situation/wars in neighboring countries
 Threat of war
 Unsuccessful coup d'etat
 Censoring of media
 Declaration of martial law
 Restriction of political rights
 Arrests of significant persons
 Army attacks beyond the borders of the country
 Political illegal executions

Perception of risk
 In order to find the relationship between fear and travelling, it is first important to establish an
understanding of how tourists perceive risks in their travel. This is an important factor in
tourists, because it eventually effects tourist's decision making process, thus effecting the
decision to travel to a destination. There are several types of risks involved in tourism, of
which the following are the most common ones: cultural risk, equipment or functional risk,
crime risk, health risk, financial risk, physical risk, natural disaster risk, psychological risk,
political risk, social risk, terrorism risk and time risk.
 Cultural risk is associated with having misunderstanding due to language, religion, habit or
other cultural barriers and differences. Financial risk is defined as tourists having fear of the
trip not being worth the amount that financially has been paid, in other words having fear of
not getting value for money. Physical risk has similar characteristics as the health risk,
however the difference is that physical risk relates to accidents and injuries that tourists are
 prone to when travelling to a specific destination. Psychological risk implies that the trip
might not reflect the tourist's personality thus damaging the tourist's self-image. Social risk
includes disapproval and judgment of friends and family regarding the destination choice.
Time risk implies a fear of wasting time in case the trip does not exceed expectations. (UK
Essays, 2014.)
 Understanding how a perceived risk affects the decision making process of a tourist is
important. because this phenomenon has a high influence on tourist demand in destinations.
Destinations that are associated with a high risk are less likely to be chosen as a travel
destination, especially when there are so many other travel alternatives to choose from. High
risk is also associated with a negative destination image. If tourists have a negative image of a
certain destination they are again likely to choose another substitute destination instead,
which thus results in a tourist drop in the destination with the negative image.
 Furthermore, it has also been introduced that educational background and financial state are
also differentiators in perceiving risks (Seabra, Dolnicar, Abrantes & Kastenholz, 2011, 503-
504), A tourist with a high education has the sense to distinguish real risks from unreal ones
using relevant, current and truthful sources whereas low educated tourists are more easily
misguided by sources that offer exaggerated and false information thus resulting in a higher
perception of risks. In addition, high income tourists have lower perceptions of risks due to
the realization that any possible damages can easily be paid.

Information channels
 As tourists these days are more and more self-imposed they seek information about their
destinations on their own. Travel agents and advisories are no longer as highly used
information sources as other more easily accessible sources are, such as the internet and
books. A patter has been established which explains the process of a tourist seeking for
information. The information search has been divided into two subcategories which are
internal and external search.
 Internal information is the information that the tourist is already in possession of in her long-
term memory. This information has been stored from previous searches and travel
experiences. The internal information forms the prior knowledge, which is used first when
information seeking begins. (Chen & Gursoy, 2000, 191-203.)
 Familiarity refers to the information that the tourists think they have of a destination and
expertise refers to the ability to function like a tourist, performing for example tourism-related
tasks.
Therefore, the internal information is constructed from the number of previous visits and
amount of experience" (Lehto, O'Leary & Morrison, 2004, 801-818).
 As it has been established that the internet is the most highly used external information
channels. it is also worth exploring how information is being gathered from the Internet. Ho,
Lin & Chen (2012, 1471) have summarized some methods that tourists use while searching
for information online. They gathered this information based on earlier research about web
search behavior and concluded that the following five characteristics and strategies are most
commonly used; keywords, search engines, browsing, subject directories and known sites.