Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
place in relation to tourism; moreover, the type of complexity that applies to these public relations
systems is only partially organized/disorganized and partially intentional. For example, it would
be impossible that the Holocaust Educational Trust in the UK would be able to fund or let
alone know about all the trips from school children in Britain that go to Auschwitz. Nevertheless,
these school trips occur more often than not because the tourism-reputation system sets in
motion, by means of the reputation of the event-place, a series of dynamics that integrate a
variety of actors-elements that bring about tourism-fl ows as an unintended consequence.
In the context of the relationship between public relations and tourism, orchestrated
complexity describes the dynamics and process that take place among a diversity of individual
actors, organizations and institutions in order to adapt to change and direct or re-direct tourism
fl ows. These actions and dynamics affect directly and indirectly the reputation of the place-
destination, but they are not necessarily set in motion intentionally or in a coordinated manner.
These actions happen in some cases in a chaotic way that manages to achieve orchestration by
means of probability and interactivity among the different elements of the tourism-reputation.
Indeed, orchestrated complexity is made possible because developmental processes are interactive
(Crawford and Kerbs 2008: 184).
Therefore, orchestrated complexity can also help us to understand how PR allows tourism-
reputation systems to overcome and adapt to particular situations/challenges that arise from
global risks and their impact on the reputation of the event or place that otherwise would have
traditionally brought about tourism fl ows but that now is threatened by new situations and
changes to the environment. The volcanic eruptions can be a very disruptive phenomenon for
tourism as in the case of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland in 2010, which provoked the
cancellation of hundreds of fl ights and million dollar losses because of the interruption of tourism
fl ows. Yet volcanic eruptions in the Northern hemisphere (and many in the South too) have
overall become one of the most cherished tourist attractions by means of worldwide networks
of scientists and amateur observers who are more than willing to pay good money to observe
fi rst hand these phenomena because such chaotic events may at one level be uncontrollable
yet managed.
The notion of orchestrated complexity could be also used to explore responses to communi-
cation crises that threaten reputation, allowing the real possibility of modelling communication
strategies to mitigate collateral damage. Indeed, by learning from complexity, PR can offer
tourism-reputation systems the ability to predict scenarios of chaos, while identifying the key
dynamics that enable adaptation and survival to change. In a way, eco-tourism is already in most
cases a product of the inter-play between mixed imperatives of economics, development, public
relations, tourism and corporate social responsibility. As such, eco-tourism is a properly conten-
tious subject (Higham 2007: 2) and thus far sadly neglected from a public relations perspective.
Functional and critical perspectives
Public relations activity, whether it is conducted by 'professionals' or 'amateurs', by corporations
or by activists, is present at all political, economic, socio-cultural and technological change in
contemporary, post-modern promotional cultures. In this sense, it relates to tourism as a
sociological phenomenon because it engages with cultural beliefs and practices, communicative
action, discourse ethics, organizational cultures and climates, formation of public agendas and
debates and of course with interest-group activism.
Public relations practitioners in tourism or related economic activities work on behalf of
many different types of organizations, institutions and individuals to engage with multiple
stakeholders and to act on their behalf as an advocate to attract and preserve tourism fl ows. In
