The Caribbean seeks regional security network for touristsby Aleem Khan*

“Dreadful terrorist attacks and acts of war have cast long shadows over the tourist industry in many parts of the world, laying bare the urgent need of handling this crisis in the sector thoroughly since this is an industry that usually brings thoughts of happiness and unwariness linked to it.”

Those are the words printed in a recent report of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) released just a few days ago under the title Guidelines for a Crisis in the Tourist Industry. Even though there have been no terrorist attacks in the Caribbean in recent times, there’s also a need to keep the status quo.

It was right on the heels of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) took the precaution –during the meeting held on Margarita Island, Venezuela from December 11 to 12, 2001- of calling for an Action Plan with the “establishment of a Regional Security Network for Tourists in the Grand Caribbean nations.”

“As news on a large-scale crisis have continued to make headlines in most newspapers and filling up the radio and TV airwaves during the past eighteen months, the scope of the crisis in the leisure industry could be expressed in a variety of forms and this has been happening on a steady basis for many years.”

Natural disasters like flash floods, hurricanes, wildfires and volcanic eruptions sometimes play more havoc with the image of the tourist destination than the actual damage they might cause to the infrastructure. Civil riots, accidents, crime and epidemics blur the attractiveness of the heftiest destinations. At the same time, such economic factors as offhand fluctuations in the number of arrivals could also trigger a crisis in the tourist sector,” the WTO report goes on to underscore.

However, as we said above, during this span of time the Caribbean stood aloof from this situation. The closer we got to an occurrence of this nature was the volcanic eruption on Monserrat, a natural event that covered the insular Caribbean with mud and cinders last July 13.

But this happening caused no injuries, according to the Monserrat Volcanic Activity Observatory, and the island went back to business as usual thanks to the fast relief aid sent by neighboring nations and other countries.

The WTO defines a crisis in tourism as any unexpected incident that could harm travelers’ confidence toward one particular destination and hamper its ability to operate normally. The need to count on crisis handling strategies, aimed at keeping the confidence of both travelers and the travel industry intact, as well as downplaying the negative ripple effects of a crisis on any destination, simply brooks no further delay.

Never mind what kind of a crisis is hitting one destination –the WTO says- techniques to handle that crisis effectively are very similar in all cases. “Good communication based on principles of honesty and clearness is the key to handling any crisis successfully. Yet, it’s equally important to bring other tourism-related specialties onboard, such as (A) Communications, (B) Promotion and Advertisement, (C) Security and Safety, (D) Market Research,” the document points out.

The immediate goal is to make tourists return to the destination as soon as possible and rely on appropriate techniques to handle those crises that might speed up this process.

The WTO warns: “The possible damage that any crisis could cause to a country’s tourist industry should never be ignored. Crises are like viruses: they spring up out of the blue, are menacing and vituperative. They are extremely dangerous. A good state of preparedness is the best way to minimize the impact of a crisis.” We hope the establishment of a Regional Security Network for Tourists could achieve exactly that: prepare the region for the worst.

*Aleem Khan is a communication official at the Association of Caribbean States. The opinions contained herein do not necessarily express the views of the ACS officials.