01 December 2008

UNITED NATIONS SAYS BEING PREPARED AND ACCURATE COMMUNICATION ARE THE STRONGEST MITIGATING FACTORS TO DEAL WITH THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF CRISES ON TOURISM AND TRAVEL

According to the UNWTO, tourism stakeholdersÃ¢â¬â¢ preparedness and effective and accurate communication are among the key factors to substantially mitigate potential negative impacts of crises on tourism.

Effective crisis preparation was addressed during the Ã¢â¬ËœInternational Conference on Revitalization of Tourism and Confronting CrisesÃ¢â¬â¢, in Chengdu, China, 16-18 November, with UNWTOÃ¢â¬â¢s recently launched Resilience Committee providing short-term analysis and prospects to help the sector better asses the impact of the current situation on tourism performance.

The Conference identified the importance of local and global cooperation among tourism stakeholders to avert the challenges associated with the various forms of crises including situations of global economic slowdown, with UNWTO Deputy Secretary-General Taleb Rifai saying, Ã¢â¬ÅâœTourism professionals have had to learn very quickly over the past decade how to deal with the aftermath of events that may negatively influence the travel publicÃ¢â¬â¢s intentions of visiting affected areasÃ¢â¬~.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœIn the face of the current economic scenario, tourismÃ¢â¬â¢s undisputed role as a global growth and employment driver can also contribute to stimulate the global economy.Ã¢â¬~ Ã¢â¬ÅâœUNWTOÃ¢â¬â¢s Resilience Committee will monitor the evolving situation and provide analysis and forecastsÃ¢â¬~, he added.

Australia has its very own Australasian Economic Tourism and Travel Resilience Forum taking place in the International College of Management in Sydney on 6 December with over 100 delegates registered and Forum co-organiser, international crisis management specialist David Beirman, saying today, Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe response has been fantastic with a wide range of delegates registered.Ã¢â¬~

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe only disappointment at this stage is that it appears that while outbound sector is heeding the advice of the UNWTO, getting prepared to deal with crises and registering for the Forum, although we have no registrations that can be identified as coming from AFTA although we invited them to attend and speak, but they declined, the inbound and domestic sectors appear at this time to have their heads firmly in the sand with a much lower registration from inbound and domestic than the outbound sector.Ã¢â¬~

Ã¢â¬ÅâœInterestingly, the inbound and sectors domestic potentially stand to be worse hit in many ways than outbound, with AustraliaÃ¢â¬â¢s perception by domestic travellers that Australia is not sexy enough and expensive and by international travellers a long way away and also expensive.Ã¢â¬~

David added, Ã¢â¬ÅâœInterestingly, we have also not had one single Forum registration from any member of the Executive or Management of the major inbound and domestic tourism industry associations and not one that is identifiable as being Executive or Non Executive with Tourism Australia.Ã¢â¬~

He added, Ã¢â¬ÅâœIn addition, while we have Justine Cooper, Acting Marketing Director of Tourism New South Wales as a panellist, which is really great news, we do not have one single registration from any level of Tourism New South Wales, Executive or Non-Executive, even though we invited the Minister for Tourism Jodi McKay to speak, which was turned down and we invited all the Board members and Executive of Tourism New South Wales and also the New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development, all of which said they had other commitmentsÃ¢â¬~.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœNeither do we have any registrations that can be identified as coming from the claimed industry association leadership body the National Tourism Alliance, whose web site says,

"The National Tourism Alliance (NTA) was formed to establish unity within the Australian Tourism and Hospitality Industry, providing a single voice to Federal Government on issues of common interest"

"NTA is the advocate for the industry as a whole Ã¢â¬' pursuing high level engagement on national issues, common across all aspects of the tourism and hospitality industry."

"As a true alliance, it brings together the weight of the industry on national policy debates and strategic planning for the industry, in the broader economic and community context."

A key role of the NTA is to facilitate industry engagement with external stakeholders and provide the vehicle for those stakeholders to communicate with the industry.

David added, "This is is quite amazing and very disappointing, nevertheless we have an amazing team of speakers and panelists, with great break out sessions planned, and an excllent attendance list, with a highly productive and beneficial day forecast for those that deem the survival of their business and sector important enough to attend.Ã¢â¬~

A Tourism Resilience Report by The Mole