Strategies for tourism business recovery from terrorist attacks as presented by Brent W. Ritchie l Professor l Tourism l UQ Business School The University of Queensland l Brisbane QLD 4072 l AUSTRALIA P: +617 3346 7308 | E: b.ritchie@uq.edu.au | W: http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/2051 Distinguished University Professor, Center for Tourism Research, Wakayama University, Japan http://www.wakayama-u.ac.jp/en/ctr/index.html Google Scholar profile: http://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=6BXbfrQAAAAJ

1. Strategies for Tourism Business Recovery
from Terrorist Attacks
Professor Brent W. Ritchie
Business School, The University of Queensland,
Australia
b.ritchie@uq.edu.au

3. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
1. Nature of tourism businesses
2. Business recovery issues
 Revenue decline and cash flow
 Coordination and leadership
3. Strategies and policies for tourism recovery
4. Conclusion

4. TOURISM = VULNERABLE/COMPLEX
 Tourism demand:
 Tourism is high risk ‘product’ and is prone to drops in
demand due to external shocks
 Tourist demand shifts to other ‘safe’ locations
 Rebounds from visitor declines are shortening for one
off attacks – but continued incidents?

5. TOURISM = VULNERABLE/COMPLEX
 Tourism Businesses:
 Tourism consists of a large proportion of SMEs may
lack knowledge of risk management and response
strategies
 SMEs have limited ‘resource slack’ compared to larger
enterprises (financial and human)
 Consists of inter-related sectors and parts so
fragmented and difficult to coordinate
 Operations cross geographical boundaries

6. RESPONSE AND RECOVERY
 Businesses face a range
of connected challenges
(drop in demand,
reduced profit, costs)
 Importance of
stakeholder
collaboration and
leadership in response
and recovery phases
1. Need to conserve
financial and human
resources
1. Need to increase
revenue by increasing
demand
1. Articulate the need of
the industry
2. Coordinate a
consistent response
across sectors

7. RESPONSE AND RECOVERY
• Funding submission to government often needed
from industry and DMO
– Need to identify the impact of a terrorist incident and
quantify loses
– Difficult as very few tourism businesses physically
affected
• Government consider:
– Size of impact and whether offsetting is needed
– Length of impact and need for insulation
– Which policies are cost effective and efficient?
– Business assistance vs recovery marketing

8. BUSINESS SUPPORT
• Human resource management:
– After 9/11 attacks 55% of accommodation operators laid
staff off, 61% scheduled fewer hours and 43% asked staff
to take leave (Taylor and Enz, 2002)
– Staff reassigned to different tourist locations or to new
industry sectors
– The development of a SARS Relief Tourism Training
Assistance program to retain workers in Singapore

9. BUSINESS SUPPORT
• Business continuity packages
– SARS = $1.8 billion tax rebates in Hong Kong and
waiving TV license fees for hotels in Singapore
– Foot and Mouth Outbreak = deferring tax payments,
application for guaranteed loans, rate relief
– September 11, Air Transportation Safety and System
Stabilisation Act in USA:
• $10 billion credit and $5 billion compensation to airlines
• Compensation for increased insurance premiums
• Compensation for those killed/injured
• Late tax payments allowed
• $3 billion spent on airline security

10. RECOVERY COMMUNICATIONS
 “Crisis management is as much about dealing with
human perceptions about the crisis as it is about
physically resolving the crisis situation” (Health
1998:26).
 Media coverage of terrorism increases risk
perceptions and information search (Seabra et al.,
2014)
 First step is to restore confidence in the destination

11. COMMUNICATIONS RESPONSE
 Travel advisories
 Mass media very
important
 Consistency is important
to build a positive image
and repair perceptions:
 Reduce speculation and
rumour
 Need for consistent
messages and stakeholder
coordination
Call Brussels Campaign

12. RECOVERY COMMS & MARKETING
 PR, visiting journalist and media programs
 Hold special events, travel expos or conferences
 The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that “the
credibility gained by Indonesia, especially Bali, being
host of the [PATA] conference after the Bali bomb
tragedy of October 2002 is of paramount importance
and the influx of tourism decision makers as well as the
international press is central in the process of recovery”
 Finding resilient market segments:
 Importance of repeat visitation (Ingram et al. 2013)
 US market and ‘terrorism’ in Australia (Walters
2016)
 Cruise ship companies branding (Bowen et al. 2014)

13. RECOVERY MARKETING MESSAGES
Type of message Authors
Business as usual – ‘open and ready
for business’
Scott, Laws & Prideaux (2007); Sanders, Laing & Houghton (2008); Prideaux
et al (2007); Carlsen & Hughes (2007); Cioccio & Michael (2007); Armstrong
& Ritchie (2007).
Community Readiness – ‘we are ready
to welcome you’
Robinson & Jarvie (2008); Walters and Clulow (2010)
Solidarity messages – ‘by visiting you
are helping the Maldives recover’
Carlsen & Hughes (2007); Armstrong & Ritchie (2007)
Celebrity endorsement Avraham & Ketter (2008); Ritchie (2008); Chacko & Marcell (2007).
Restore confidence and change
misperceptions – ‘heart’s still going
strong’ ‘never better’
Lehto, Douglas & Park (2007); Armstrong & Ritchie (2007) Scott, Laws &
Prideaux (2007); Prideaux et al (2008)
Curiosity enhancement – ‘come, see
for yourself’
Sanders, Laing & Houghton (2008); Lehto, Douglas & Park (2007). Avraham
& Ketter (2008)
Short term discounts/price reductions Sanders, Laing & Houghton (2008).
Guest/visitor testimonials Carlsen & Hughes (2007).

15. LESSONS LEARNT/CAPABILITIES

16. LESSONS LEARNT/CAPABILITIES

17. CONCLUSIONS
 Tourism is affected by terrorism although impacts
differ
 Businesses are mostly SMEs so lack resources and
knowledge to respond and recover
 Need for business assistance packages and
recovery marketing
 Government support and coordination through
DMO and industry associations is important
 Support may need to cross borders
 Ongoing training and capacity building needed