Crisis management is one of the hottest topics in both the public and the private sector. The effects of natural disasters, crime, civil unrest and war can have a far-reaching, unexpected and devastating impact on governments, businesses and individuals.
The tourism industry is one obvious example. It has suffered dramatically in various places in recent years, owing to events far beyond its own control.
'Since September 11, the issue of crisis management has become one of the most important issues facing tourist authorities and an area in which other sectors of the tourism industry, especially the airline industry, have been far in advance of national, state and regional tourism authorities,'' David Beirman, director of the Israeli Tourism Office, says. 'While terrorism and war are the issues which most readily come to mind, there are others such as natural disasters, epidemics such as foot-and-mouth disease in Britain, Aids in Southeast Asia, and criminal acts or crime waves which have impacted on the marketability of tourism destinations.''
Closer to home, the recent Sars crisis has been a tragic and costly lesson in the need for having crisis management contingency plans in place before things go wrong.
According to Richard Miller, vice-president of research and economics for the World Travel & Tourism Council, the impact of Sars on the region's tourism industry will be greater than the impact that the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, had on the United States in 2001.
'The Sars crisis in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam is perhaps the most dramatic prolonged shutdown of the industry on record,'' Mr Miller says.
