Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
visitation to the destination is undeniable (Lehto, Douglas and Park 2008). Communicating with
the tourism market may have a number of different goals, from correcting misperceptions about
the scale of the disaster, to restoring confi dence in the destination, reducing perceptions of risk
to repairing the destination image. In each case, it is important to craft a marketing message that
is likely to achieve the goal of the destination marketer.
In a review of the existing literature on post-disaster marketing for tourist destinations,
Walters and Mair (2012) identifi ed nine major themes that have been used in the past as
marketing messages to encourage tourists following a disaster. Examples of the types of messages
DMOs are likely to use when employing such themes are demonstrated in case study 2.
Research has shown that some of these messages are more successful than others, but it is
worth remembering that each disaster is unique and therefore there is unlikely to be any
one message or strategy that will work on every occasion. Nonetheless, the most commonly used
message types are discussed below.
Open and ready for business
This type of message is one of the most commonly used following disasters, and refl ects the
keenness of DMOs to see their destination's visitor numbers return to normal as soon as possible.
'Business as usual', or 'open and ready for business' messages have been used in a number of
settings, including New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina (Pearlman and Melnik 2008), Far
North Queensland following Cyclone Larry (Prideaux
et al
. 2008), in the Maldives after the
Boxing Day Tsunami (Carlsen and Hughes 2008) and in Canberra following the 2006 bushfi res
(Armstrong and Ritchie 2008). More recently, Queensland's destination marketing organization
employed this message in their bid to prevent tourists cancelling their Queensland holiday plans
at the time of and immediately following the 2011 fl oods (Walters, Mair and Ritchie 2011).
There have been some criticisms of such messages, particularly where it seems clear that the
destination is far from ready to cater for visitors. In the case of Queensland for example, their
'open for business' marketing attempts were being transmitted at the same time as requests from
the State's Premier for charity aid and assistance to help the region to recover. This mixing of
messages is not good for the overall destination, and touches on an important point, that of the
identifi ed lack of communication between various stakeholders that govern a destination
(Xu and Grunewald 2009).
Solidarity messages
As demonstrated in the previous case study, in the aftermath of a disaster it is normal for adults
to experience numerous powerful emotional reactions (Vastfjall, Peters and Slovic 2008; Lazarus
1991; Raholm, Arman and Rehnsfeldt 2004; Walters and Clulow 2010). These feelings may also
have an impact on everyday decisions (Vastfjall
et al
. 2008; Schwarz, Zuma and Clore 1988) and
the impact of emotions on the tourist's decision-making process is well documented (Crouch
and Louviere 2001; Kahneman 1995; Otto and Ritchie 1996; Tuan Pham, Pracejus and Hughes
2001). Several destinations have used messages intended to evoke an emotional reaction among
potential visitors. Examples are 'Canberra needs your support' and 'By visiting the Maldives you
are helping us'. These types of messages are also intended to counteract any guilt on the part of
visitors associated with the thought of getting in the way of recovery efforts. Such beliefs were
identifi ed by Walters and Clulow (2010) in their study of Victoria, Australia, following the Black
Saturday bushfi res in 2009. Lehto
et al
. (2008) also suggested that visitors anticipated an intensive
recovery process which put them off visiting a disaster-struck destination.
