When disaster strikes, how should YOU the travel industry respond?

Amid the devastation and despair following the recent earthquakes in Nepal, there is a flicker of hope from other disaster struck destinations. Pamela Whitby reports

In the long, dark shadows cast by mountains of Nepal in the wake of recent earthquakes, it is hard to imagine the recovery of a region that has long captivated hikers, nature lovers, cultural enthusiasts, pilgrims, adventure seekers and more.

This week’s earthquake in Nepal has, according to the BBC, brought down more houses and lodges in the Everest region and most tourists, according to local officials, have gone home.

Tour operators have had little choice but to cancel their trips and the country’s tourism agency carries the simple message ‘Pray for Nepal’. Although the message has not been updated since the April 25th earthquake, it advises people to check with their operator or directly with the agency about travel to the country, and offers a link where people can find information about the missing, found, wounded and dead.

Amid the rubble and devastation, and the shock of this second earthquake, Welcome Nepal’s goal of ‘rebuilding the nation’ and being ‘open for business’ by autumn this year may seem optimistic. However, history and data show that there is hope that tourism to the regoin, which contributes around 8% to Nepal’s economy, can recover. 

According to a global study from e-Dreams ODIGEO, Europe’s largest online travel agency (OTA), while bookings sometimes fall in a year following a disaster, this isn’t always the case - and in some cases they even rise.

Here are some examples of its findings:

  • Japan March 2011 earthquake and tsunami (15,981 fatalities): A year after the disaster, bookings from Europe had fallen by 21%. Yet, three years later in 2015 - from that low point in Jan/Feb 2012 - total bookings from Europe have risen by 38%
     
  • Philippines Typhoon Haiyan (+6,340 fatalities): Just a year after the disaster, the Philippines saw a 22% increase in bookings from Europe (including the UK) on the previous 12 months
     
  • Nepal Base Camp Avalanche April 2014 (3,700 fatalities): In the six-month April-September 2014 period bookings from Europe to Nepal increased by 48%

Source: e-Dreams ODIGEO

Says Stephanie Uhlig, UK MD of Opodo, one of the five OTAs in the e-Dreams ODIGEO Group: “It is evident, when looking at the significant year-on-year increases in Opodo flight bookings to disaster-struck nations, that the travel industry plays a vital role, not only in rebuilding awareness of these destinations, but also in raising consumer desire to travel there."

The question, however, that the whole travel industry ecosystem should be asking right now, says tourism consultant Jean-Marc Flambert, a former director of tourist boards in the disaster-struck countries of Sri Lanka and Haiti, is: what is the best way to help? 

“In the case of both Haiti and Sri Lanka my rallying call has been trade not aid,” he says, adding that “ like any disaster, Nepal is a huge tragedy, but there is the opportunity to use the global stage and draw on goodwill to ‎help re-launch tourism”.

My rallying call has been trade not aid

Jean-Marc Flambert, founder Your Tourism Partner

Of course, sending money is one way to help, but Flambert urges all tourism players - from tour operators to OTAs, destination agencies, hotels and even colleges and universities  that offer hospitality courses - to take a longer term view. While there is a responsibility for all involved to act ethically, timeously and with sensitivity, Flambert believes strongly in “giving people dignity and purpose through labour”.  

One brand that flexed such corporate social responsibility muscle after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti is Marriott, which opened its hotel with a difference at Port-au-Prince this February. There are just two foreigners on the leadership team, the hotel employs 200 Haitian workers, many from disadvantaged backgrounds and Haitian-Americans, working elsewhere for the brand, have been encouraged back to help share their skills.

Among the other steps taken, is the decision to use local suppliers wherever possible. Rebo Coffee, for example, supplies 100% of the hotel’s coffee, while Ayiti Natives, delivers sustainably produced fair trade soap. Both companies are strong on their record of employing women, the backbone of agriculture sector's workforce in many developing countries. Given fewer boundaries but widening disparities in the world today, there are lessons here for others chains in their quest for global domination.

But it’s not just hotels that can help build disaster struck economies, says Flambert. Among his suggestions are for:

  • Tour operators and travel agencies to investigate the possibility of redirecting tours, or promoting trips, to areas of the country which are not affected - and even temporarily relocate hospitality staff into other roles
     
  • Foreign educational institutions that specialise in hospitality to offer scholarships for young, talented people from the region to train while the country recovers. Establishing training initiatives in the country to better understand how to respond in a crisis is another possibility.
     
  • International tourism bodies to create a job opportunities for skills transfer that could later benefit the country
     
  • All parties from the media to trade partners to work together to communicate the right messages

Data capture is crucial to understanding and knowing what people are looking for and after a disaster regular travellers to a region often want to help. Since travel choices are often driven by emotion, there is an argument for helping people to understand that a trip to a disaster-struck region doesn’t have to be ‘insensitive’ but can play a constructive role in getting money into the country and helping people back into work.

According to Flambert, one successful campaign titled ‘Fall in love with Sri-Lanka again’ helped repeat visitors, who were willing to pay full price for their chance to help, back to the country at a time when it was really needed. 

This so-called responsible tourism is a growing trend, says Afzaal Mauthoor, co-founder of responsible tourism agency Inspired Escapes, who argues that such so-called ‘travel philanthropy’ is on the rise.

Communicating the right message at the right time

A country’s tourism agency, and its’ global representatives, have a pivotal role to play, and the Philippines offers a good example. In 2013, the strongest typhoon in the history of the sovereign island country made global headlines for weeks, including in the UK. News outlets displayed the wanton destruction in directly affected places but this posed a problem. While many people believed the whole country had been devastated, says Richard de Villa at the Embassy of the Philippines, Department of Tourism, infact, just 3% was affected - albeit badly.

In the Philippines, over 2 million jobs are directly and indirectly tied to tourism, which also represents a substantial part of the economy. “It was vital for us to immediately raise awareness that the main tourism destinations remained open for business,” says de Villa.

 It’s a similar scenario for tourism in Nepal, which in 2013 hosted 800,000 visits. The sector provides vital employment in one of the world’s poorest nations; Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation states that for every six tourist visits one job is created, and around 138,000 people are employed in the sector.

De Villa cannot stress enough the importance of informing travelling consumers that their continued visits and patronage goes a long way to aid long-term recovery - and it can even indirectly impact those in the directly affected places of a country.

While no destination would ever wish for a disaster, Uhlig says the data from their study shows two months ago, on the weekend that Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu in the South Pacific, UK flight searches for this remote South Pacific island were eight times higher than average.

While immediate bookings did not fluctuate, what the data showed was that British people were certainly interested in where the island is and how they could get there.

“That, in turn, helped to put Vanuatu on the travel map and we expect to see a boost in tourism once the situation has stabilised,” she says.

Let’s hope that comes from responsible travellers and travel industry players with the interests of the country and the wider region in mind.

Please share your thoughts in the comments box below or tweet @eyefortravel on how the wider travel industry can help rebuild tourism in disaster struck areas

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