Tourism, Security and Safety From Theory to Practice

Communication of Security Information: A Vital Strategy
in Tourism Crisis Management
Tourism crises are almost inevitable as they are generated in many cases by exoge-
nous factors that are beyond the control of the tourism system itself (Brownell,
1990; Santana, 2003). However, the extent of the crisis, the level of resilience of
the affected tourism sector, and the recovery phase can be controlled through an
implementation of appropriate crisis management strategies. Effective manage-
ment of a given tourism crisis is dependent on many factors such as the availabil-
ity of reliable contingency plans, the availability of contingency funds, the level
and type of public and private sector cooperation, and concerted efforts to change
the situation by all tourism stakeholders (Mansfeld, 1999). Indeed, regardless
of the theory used to explain the mechanism and the nature of tourism crises, there
is common understanding that when they occur they force decision makers and
managers to exert control over this sector in pursuit of balancing the tourism sys-
tem through regenerated tourist flows to an affected destination (Coles, 2003;
Prideaux, 2003; Santana, 2001).
One of the management strategies used to attain this end is security communica-
tion, which conveys security information to tourists and tour operators in the gener-
ating markets (Mansfeld, 1999; Ritchie et al., 2003). The aim of communication
management is to limit, control, and balance the negative information conveyed
through the media before and during the crisis and throughout the crisis recovery
phase. Thus, through proper security communication management the negative
effect of such crises on the receiving destination might be substantially mitigated
and the destination’s image may be safeguarded (Ritchie et al., 2003; Baral et al.,
2004). However, the purpose of such a communication strategy is not always clear
and well defined by those who advocate it. Previous studies of security induced
tourism crisis have mentioned that advertising and PR campaigns have normally
been integrated into crisis management plans. Affected destinations such as Croatia,
Egypt, or Israel normally allocate a contingency budget to control image deteriora-
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tion and to reactivate tourist flow once a security crisis seems to be over. However,
the efficiency of these campaigns has never been thoroughly investigated. These
communication campaigns were aimed at generating quantity of marketing infor-
mation rather than quality security oriented information. In other words, the strat-
egy has been to focus on the destination’s touristic qualities, while ignoring the need
to change tourists’ perceived risk by conveying security information (Mansfeld,
1999). After all, personal security has become in recent years a leading factor in
tourists’ overall judgment of destinations’ level of attraction (Hall and O’Sullivan,
1996; Poon and Adams, 2000; Cavlek, 2002).
In recent years, therefore, various studies concluded that the provision of infor-
mation on the security situation and on the level of risk to travelers to the affected
destination should be regarded as a prerequisite, and thus integrated into any 
crisis-management plan (Cavlek, 2002). This information should be communi-
cated by the various information agents right after a security situation has com-
menced and must flow constantly, while providing updated information on the
events accompanied by proactive risk assessments (Mansfeld, 1999; Thapa, 2003;
Cavlek, 2002). Based on an analysis of many tourism crises in the past two decades,
Cavlek (2002) highly recommends the improvement of accurate information flow
between local agencies and the media. In fact, her information provision strategy is
based on an effort to control the biased reports by the mass media by supplying the
media with information on the security situation and on the steps taken to contain
it (Cavlek, 2002, p. 488). Her postulate that the local tourism industry in affected
destinations must adopt a proactive approach to security and risk information pro-
vision is logical and imperative. However, the assumption that the media will be
more balanced just because it is provided with accurate information on the security
situation seems to be naïve. After all, the mass media is known to prefer the nega-
tive, sensational mode of coverage even if this means conveying a distorted image
of the actual security situation (Weinmann and Winn, 1994). An alternative, and
what seems to be a more innovative and effective approach, is to establish new chan-
nels of security information that will reach consumers and tour operators alike
through other modes of information dissemination, such as the Internet.
In any event, the recommendations on the use of security oriented information
as a crisis-management strategy are still much too generalized and are not related
to the situational constraints and to the choice behavior that characterize both tour
operators and potential tourists. Therefore, there is a need to develop a more
detailed and practical model that takes into account the situational characteristics
and the constraints imposed on tourists and tour operators while engaged not only
in the destination choice process but in all other stages of the travel behavior
sequence. A conceptualization of this framework will be developed in this chapter
after the current pattern of communicating security information has been charac-
terized and critically analyzed.