Minimizing damage

Minimizing damage
Ways of handling a tourist destination's image
before and during a crisis
Dr. Dimitris Koutoulas
Tourism & Hospitality Marketing Consultant
Assistant Professor of Tourism & Hospitality Management
University of Patras
Email: [email protected]
No stranger to crises…
No stranger to crises…
•  Is it safe to visit?
•  Can I still enjoy my holidays in Greece?
•  Are there going to be strikes?
•  Will the ATMs be working?
A DMO’s responsibility
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•  Assisting in the rescue and evacuation of affected
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•  Making arrangements for visitors about to arrive in order
to minimize cancelations
•  Handling the destination’s image
Marketing
Tourism marketing
Micro-Marketing at the business level
☛ Macro-Marketing at the destination level
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Tourism marketing
Destination image is the perception held by existing and
potential customers about our destination (Middleton, 1988)
Travel decision are made based on “image of the
destination rather than objective reality” (Chon, 1990)
Image creates expectations about the destination, thus
affecting the “individual traveller's satisfaction /
dissatisfaction with a travel purchase” (Chon, 1990)
Tourism marketing
Who is shaping our destination’s image?
•  Past visitors
•  Media
•  Social media
•  Our marketing efforts
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Tourism marketing
A DMO should enhance the destination’s image by…
•  creating a strong destination brand with a very clear
positioning and differentiation from competitors
•  implementing a compelling storytelling
•  having a dynamic web presence
•  utilizing high-quality content
•  protecting the brand’s integrity in case of a crisis
The thing with crises…
WHEN
IF
The thing with crises…
•  There are many things that can go wrong
•  There simply is no time to react effectively
•  Are we prepared?
•  A crisis is successfully dealt with BEFORE it occurs
Being practical
•  Media relations
–  Invest in building a strong working relationship with
the media
Being practical
EVER!!!
•  Never try to hide or distort the facts
► Murphy’s Law: The media and the social media will
find out
Being practical
•  Setting the narrative
–  Show the reality on the ground
ü  Organising press trips
ü  Collecting visitor testimonials
ü  Scenes of normality: “Business as usual”
Being practical
•  Setting the narrative
–  Highlight that you are proactive
ü  Show what you did for affected visitors
ü  Talk about the arrangements for expected visitors
so that they don’t need to cancel their trip
ü  Show what you did/will do to prevent future crises
Being practical
•  Setting the narrative
–  Focus on human stories
ü  Stories about visitors
ü  Stories about locals helping visitors
ü  Stories about acts of solidarity
Being practical
•  Setting the narrative
–  Show that you genuinely care about the wellbeing of
visitors
Being practical
•  Content production
–  Proper texts: fact sheets, live feed, statements, “back
to normal”
–  Proper photos
–  Proper video footage
Being practical
Right after the crisis has been resolved…
•  Change the narrative
The case of Dresden, Germany
The case of Dresden, Germany
The case of Dresden, Germany
The case of Dresden, Germany
Having the right answers
•  Do we have a crisis manual in place?
•  Does it cover all potential situations?
•  Have we rehearsed and tested it?
•  Is there a budget for emergency situations?
•  Is its use preauthorized?
•  Do our team members know what to do?
•  Are there clear roles within the team?
Thanks for listening!
Dr. Dimitris Koutoulas
Tourism & Hospitality Marketing Consultant
Assistant Professor of Tourism & Hospitality Management
University of Patras
Email: [email protected]
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