Destination Marketing Communication during a crisis
Destination Marketing Communication during a crisis
In this article i'm sharing tips on how to communicate as a destination marketing organisation or travel company during times of crisis.
As a tourism consultant and or operator of a tourism company i have been involved and effected by floods, earthquakes, and armed conflicts.
I was an early member of the earthquake recovery group NepalNow and have worked closely with with the NTB and several consultants and tourism entrepreneurs to bring back tourist back to Nepal
During the 2015 earthquake in Nepal i was in the summit hotel with my then 3 year old daughter, this is me with a broken hand. (Not from the earthquake but from a futsal game)
At this very moment 5 km away from me is a serviced apartment with 20 apartments that is fully booked at that moment and for which i am responsible and one about 20 km away. And my wife is working 5km at the other side on a balcony.
In short crisis !
Of course during a such a crisis you first make sure you and your direct surrounding are safe, then you make sure you and your family will be safe for the next few days : Shelter, Food and water
And then the people you are responsible for : Guest and staff
For your guests its important you gather them in a central place as quick as possible and hand them over to their embassies if that is an option and our help them to get out of the country and or new accommodation if needed.
We are open for Business
After that first phase of securing everyone and cleaning the mess is over your next priority is getting back to business again as quick as possible.
But then you will soon discover there are different interests:
A DMO wants tourist back in the country, help organisations want money to help victims who are affected by the crisis.
Dmo's are sending out positive messages while NGO's like Red Cross and Unicef are sending the mostly exaggerated reports into the world.
No need to say that as a tourism entrepreneur this negative media attention is really annoying.
What can a Destination Marketing Organisation do during a crisis ?
If travel advises are negative, this is probably your first priority. Try to lobby with the embassies to lift the travel advisories.
I experienced that the advise is very much based on the feeling of the people working in the embassies and or organisations who are in direct contact with ministries of foreign affairs.
Are local representatives brave and not intimidated by the crisis, travel advisories are much more positive then of those countries who's staff have been directly involved in a critical moment (their houses are flood, they are robbed, their house is damaged.
This is of course very difficult to influence but it does help to talk with them about the bigger picture and see if you can bring nuances in the travel advise for example only a certain province instead of a whole country.
Put a lot of empathizes on the positive travel advises for the parts of your country
Emphasizing on traveling in parts of the country that are not affected by the crisis is a good thing to do.
I a personally don't like to request people to travel to a destination because that helps people.
For 2 reasons:
1) It's not an argument for most people to go on Holiday. (Travelling is about having fun, to relax, to learn and discover and mostly to enjoy)
2) It's not a good message for the people of a country. You don't want people to visit your beautiful country because you need help, you want tourist to come because your are beautiful, welcoming and just a fantastic place to be. I prefer to boost people's morale and focus on pride than play the we are needy card.
Use Social Media for spreading positive news / Curate & push positive stories of travelers
Nobody will believe a DMO that says we are ok, you can come to our lovely country.
However, people do believe other travelers and ordinary people who are in the country and share their stories.
However, people do believe other travelers and ordinary people who are in the country and share their stories.
Even more then in other times during a crisis it's very important for a DMO to curate positive stories from within the country and redistribute them on the various available social media channels.
Keep on pushing stories, photo's and video of people (preferable) tourist who are having a good time at the moment.
Start daily to retweet / repost on twitter, facebook and instagram the stories of that day. Show that people and tourists are having a good time. Preferable during activities that represent the Unique Selling Points of your destination.
Like Eating Food, Shopping, Having an Adventure etc.
Curating of Positive Destination Stories in Instagram
Instagram is super easy and handy to spread positive photo's and videos:
For example this photo is taken today in Mexico where yesterday a big earthquake hit.
I got this from latest checking latest Instagram pictures in cacun: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/212893191/cancun-quintana-roo/
In this case what the DMO of Mexico could do
-> Simple is like and share this post on their social media accounts.
-> Better is asking this person via personal message can we use your Instagram pictures / videos to spread positive news about Mexico
Then you can repost the picture on facebook.
I format i really like that is developed by Subhasini Shrestha (If you need an instagram expert this is your woman) is the format of NepalNow
I format i really like that is developed by Subhasini Shrestha (If you need an instagram expert this is your woman) is the format of NepalNow
The picture is reposted: and with a 
: @butterturkey this gives the credit to the person who made the photo. (you have to ask, but most people agree, especially now because they want to help)
Which Hashtag to post your positive stories
It's important that you post all your posts with the same hashtag: for example #nepalnow in Nepal.
The reason for having such a hashtag is that you want others to start using the tag, and its easier for you to track photo's and videos' made by users in order to curate a beautiful campaign.
Also make sure to post with the main destination hashtag so it helps to get positive images into the negative feeds.
Extra can be a hasthag that expresses the positive feeling that is shared in the post: #happy #feelingood #beautiful etc
Best is, if you can work with a group of companies that help by pushing their travelers to share their positive content on social media and or on the social channels of the destination marketing organisation.
In return you can give double credits to the traveler and to the tour operator or hotel : in the instagram example you could say: : @butterturkey stayed in Retreat Serviced Apartments.
Giving the companies credits makes them more eager to help you with the campaign.
Informing people about the facts
Try to inform people as factual as possible
A faq section on your social media / blog or website could work really well
With the help of a group of tourism entrepreneurs you can create a faq and answer the real time questions of tourists.
After the earthquake In Nepal we shared a google doc with a group and so were able to quickly add a lot of new questions, all contributors could use the faq on their websites.
After the earthquake In Nepal we shared a google doc with a group and so were able to quickly add a lot of new questions, all contributors could use the faq on their websites.
Questions can be :
Is it safe to travel to the destination ?
Where is the conflict zone ?
Is there enough water ?
Do the ATM's work ?
Is there electricity ?
Will my travel not harm people who need help ?
Is there enough water ?
Do the ATM's work ?
Is there electricity ?
Will my travel not harm people who need help ?
Etc.
Use bloggers to spread the answers:
If some questions return frequently you can ask bloggers who are in the country to answer this in their blogs but probably bloggers are already talking about it.
If you see these blogs re-share them on social medias
Lobby with the institutions that make the news to stay factual
Lobby with the press release makers of : Oxfam, Amnesty International, Unicef, Red Cross & Save the Children etc (these guys are really power full and write what big news agencies like Reuters & ANP distribute.
Pay extra attention to Red Cross this is not one big organisation but a network of smaller country departments who are pretty independent and have good access to local newspapers.
I found them to be extremely exaggerating and harmful in many cases.
Lobby with the big news organisations : Reuters, ANP, BBC, CNN, and the expats who write for influential newspapers.
When you speak with them play the card that they harm livelihoods of people who depend on tourism and try to convince them to be very specific don't mention the whole country as a disaster zone, be specific, please don't blow up more then necessary.
Tip:
Push these organisation also to send out positive news via their channels if the conflict is over or better: For example Red Cross Helped 100.000 refugees to return safely to Myanmar in combination with happy people on photo instead of the fighting for food pictures.
Be Active on Tripadvisor
See what kind of questions come in , help answer them an add them in you own faq
Ask help from PATA
Your a member of PATA to receive help in these kind of cases, so reach out to them and see what they can do for you.
I guess they can also help to get a good story out on Tripadvisor since they are so interlinked these days
Do you have tips how you handled your destination marketing communication during times of conflict, please share with me in the comments.
Do you have tips how you handled your destination marketing communication during times of conflict, please share with me in the comments.
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