Arnie, “The Governator”, tourism and the Southern California Fires.

The hot and dry Santa Ana winds which fanned the flames of Southern California’s fires of late October and early November were, according to local government authorities, largely ignited by arsonists.

The social and financial impact of the California fires was immense, destroying over 2,000 homes and amassing a damage bill in excess of US$ 1.3 billion dollars.

More than 600,000 people were evacuated from their homes. The skies over Southern California were an angry red for ten days as the fires burnt forest and scrub from the Mexican border in the south, the mountain resort town of Big Bear in the East and the San Gabriel Mountains in the North. Greater Los Angeles and San Diego was ringed by fire. Yet, despite the destruction and the ferocity of the fires, human casualties were relatively low.  Fewer than 10 people were confirmed dead.

The fight against the fire was relentless and well coordinated, despite the ferocity and the unpredictable wind shifts. Emergency services were well-organised and evacuation procedures orderly. The close co-ordination between fire fighters, police and medical services minimized casualties and looting. Evacuation Centres were almost overflowing in abundance of food and services ranging from massage sessions to internet centres and accommodation for horses and pets.

The State of California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzengger personally oversaw every aspect of the Southern California emergency and was committed to a responsible maintenance of tourism services during the fires.

The response of California state and local government and emergency services to the fires starkly contrasted to the chaos of New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Greek fires of July-August 2007. In New Orleans and Greece, government officials were nowhere to be seen.

In Southern California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was everywhere, inspecting the damage, encouraging fire fighters and rescue personnel, consoling victims, calling for communal unity, demanding the cutting of red tape and ensuring that his fellow Republican in the White House, President George W Bush was an involved and active ally bearing big wads of cash to support the state and the people of California rather than distantly sympathetic. President Bush flew into California to accompany Schwarzenegger on a tour of inspection.

Dealing with a fire crisis, according to many US political commentators, was more in keeping with philosophy and style of leadership of “The Governator” than squabbling over the minutia of California’s state budgets. 

A major feature of California’s response to the fires is that emergency management in California is thoroughly planned and there are established contingency plans for fires, evacuation procedures and the equipping of evacuation centres. Many of these plans have been developed or enhanced during Schwarzenegger’s governorship. However, there was some criticism that specific plans had not been updated for several years.

The tourism industry of California never missed a beat during the fires. There were closures of a numbers of attractions in San Diego during the height of the threat and access to certain areas on the outskirts of Los Angles were restricted or closed.

The website of Tourism California www.visitcalifornia.com constantly updated tourists, the media and the tourism industry on the status of the fires and their impact on tourism services and attractions. At times the palls of smoke hampered flights in and out of Los Angeles, but despite the smoldering atmosphere, heat, the destruction of some celebrity homes in Malibu, Los Angeles life kept on ticking and the National Enquirer and other gossip sheets still kept an salacious eye out for celebrity baby bumps. extra-relationship relationships and the latest “celebrity” to fall off the rails from drugs, booze, psychotic or physical misadventure. Tourists continued enjoying the delights of Disneyland, Universal Studios, Beverly Hills and Hollywood despite smoky skies.

From a tourism perspective, the fires in Southern California were more a hazard  than a crisis. California’s government is very conscious of the importance of the tourism industry.

During the emergency there was very close cooperation between the state government and Tourism California to inform tourists of the fire situation while maintaining a confident marketing image.

Tourism California and the state government asserted that maintaining visits was an expression of support for the people and businesses which had experienced loss during the fires.

Governor Schwarznegger continually talked up tourism and there were obvious parallels between the approach of “Arnie” to the Southern California Fires and former New York’s Mayor Rudi Guiliani’s calls for tourism visitation to NY after 9/11 in 2001.

However, the tourism industry realised that the fires would deter some tourists. As a consequence most airlines, hotels and tour operators servicing Los Angeles waived cancellation penalties and encouraged cancelling travellers to re-schedule.

Other destinations in California encouraged tourists to stay in the state and visit places outside the Los Angeles region. 

As Southern California’s fires are now largely under control, there will be considerable detailed analysis of where and how the emergency could have been better managed.

However, when one compares the link between tourism and the government during the California fires with Greece just two months earlier, California not only managed the entire crisis with a high level of professionalism but its tourism industry leadership was in sync with the government in managing the crisis and ensuring that all stakeholders and tourists were kept fully briefed on the status of the fires and potential impact on tourist attractions and tourism movement.

In Greece the Karamanlis government was widely criticised for its appalling management of the Greek fires. The Greek government and emergency services were clearly overwhelmed by the fire threat but compounded its own lack of preparedness and resources by refusing many practical offers of overseas assistance.

The Greek National Tourism Organisation’s response to the fires could best be summed up as “fires….what fires” despite the fact that 63 Greek citizens had already perished in the fires. The GNTO failed to make a statement about the Greek fires and its impact on tourism until they were all but extinguished and the best they could manage was a farcical statement that the fires caused little damage to tourism.

Had it not been for a number of Greek individual tour operators and travel agents in Greece, the global media and overseas tourism organisations dealing with Greece, any tourism stakeholder dealing with Greece would have remained totally uninformed about the threat posed to tourists by the fires.

In contrast, Tourism California treated communication with tourists and stakeholders as a prime responsibility. The GNTO maintained its ostrich posture to the Greek fires despite the fact that Olympia was under severe threat and two uninformed French tourists were burnt to death in the Peleponnese.

The only positive achievement of the GNTO was in setting a global example of how not to handle a crisis impacting on tourism.

Tourism to California is set to bounce back quickly from the Southern Californian fires. The most severely affected regions may even become a temporary, if macabre, tourist attraction, but this is a reflection on human nature. All the attractions in San Diego and Greater Los Angeles are open for business and it is likely that many tourist businesses will promote “fire sales” to lure tourists to return.

One reason tourists will feel confident in returning to California is that they can trust the Californian tourist authorities to give them both good and, when necessary, bad news.

The most critical quality in tourism crisis management is a commitment to honesty which in turn inspires trust and confidence and translates into business.

Tourism California has acted honourably during the Southern California fires and other DMO’s should follow their example when dealing with and recovering from crisis events.

A Repport by David Beirman, TravelMole’s specialist tourism crisis and recovery management correspondent.