Crises handling and a sustainable tourism plan are needed following the bushfire disasters in Australia. This would help with long-term tourism management in a climate changed world. In the meantime, residents are paving the way for community-led recovery. A commentary by Mallika Naguran.
Lanceston, Australia 29 January 2020. Tourism arrival in Australia has plunged, sparked by the 2019/2020 summer bushfires. For the first fortnight of 2020 alone, international bookings dipped between 20 and 30 per cent as international visitors stayed clear of the land down under. According to Tourism Australia, these visitors could have come from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France and China.
This downward turn is hardly surprising. Tourists, concerned for their safety, are usually averse to being anywhere near disaster-struck areas. Earthquakes, typhoons, floods… these have occurred around the world, and tourists generally avoid such zones while rescue efforts, rebuilding or rehabilitation is being done. It is human nature to fear the unknown.
It’s My Shout website and FB site urges donations to be made for anything ranging from coffee, sponsoring a virtual stay at a resort to adopting a snail at $2.
Australia's fires have so far claimed 28 lives (including three American waterbomb specialists) and burnt about 15 million hectares. In NSW alone, scientists project that more than a billion animals could have died.
Australian leaders have urged the world not to turn their back on the country’s tourism offerings. After all, potentially $4.5 billion loss is at stake, according to Australian Tourism Export Council. The federal government announced a $76 million recovery package in response to this summer’s bushfires, of which $55 million are aimed at marketing efforts to local ($20 million) and international ($25 million) visitors as well as development of tourist attractions ($10 million). Grants of up to $1.5 million will be channelled towards concerts, festivals , walks and other tourist-magnet events. International media and trade hosting will also receive $16 million. The tourism package was taken from the $2 billion bushfire recovery fund announced at the beginning of this year.
"Australian tourism is facing its biggest challenge in living memory," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in the funding statement. The cash injection would be of great assistance to the industry since one in 13 Australian jobs are in tourism and hospitality.
A tourism promotion campaign with Kylie Minogue was pulled out after negative feedback of it being rather insensitive at a time of crisis. Even if the campaign was to run, glitzy scenic images and singing to quokkas are not going to address the fear and anxiety of travel.
So what’s the approach then to lure visitors back to damaged places after they have been restored or even to surrounding areas that are not affected by the fires? Damage to the reputation of Australia being a safe and pristine destination is also feared. Is another campaign required and would that be appropriate? Should there be other considered measures?
Managing Tourism Sustainably, and Sensitively
As Australia continues to reel from one climate-related disaster after another (bushfire storms, floods, even sandstorms) since the bushfires raised red alert in November, there is a need to manage tourism carefully and sustainably. David Attenborough said that “the moment of crisis” has arrived and that Australia should no longer ignore the direct link between the bushfires and climate change.
Sustainable tourism is not just about seeking more tourist arrivals or boosting economic spinoffs, it is also about fulfilling the needs of the hosts—these are the people who would be receiving the visitors—without negative impacts.
Businesses affected by bushfires such as local resorts, hotels and food & beverage outlets will be the ones to face visitors with hopefully a friendly demeanour as opposed to being stressed or troubled. If counseling has not been on the menu for traumatized operators, it should urgently be the case so as to let mental and emotional healing occur.
Hope-inducing websites such as It’s My Shout help rally communities together to rebuild Australian tourism.
There’s also a need to have the right skills in dealing with visitors who are apprehensive or afraid of what might come next. Fear for one’s own safety and health is real; people do silly things when they panic. Clear advisory and accurate communications are areas that state agencies and tourism operators should address to ensure that visitors are kept well informed and reassured before, during and after times of crises.
Professional incident handling should be factored in during up skilling in the wake of disasters. Crisis management should include how to protect tourists from any forms of threat and alternative communication channels should landline or cellular networks crash (burnt cellular network towers, for instance).
A rough Canberra Come Back video made by businesses in Batemans Bay.
It is time to draft a tourism plan that has sustainability as the main guiding principal. This should factor in community building with key stakeholders, having a manageable number of visitors in places being rebuilt, restoration of natural habitats (by working closely with environmental organizations), paying attention to food security (pesticide-free farming on site is best) and water access (having alternative sources including atmospheric water generators), health and safety (first aid training, oxygen supply and masks), among others.
Scientists have warned of extreme weather events in Australia for the next few years as well. Rather than thinking business as usual, we need to think tourism in climate-changed scenarios. Of importance is putting in mitigation and adaptation measures that will drastically change how tourism is run for long-term benefits. Making available charging stations for electric vehicles (even ebikes for city tours), permitting tour coaches that only run on hydrogen (as planned in Canberra), incentivising renewable energy sources for building operators and more—these nudge tourism towards the less-trodden sustainable path in Australia.
Communities Lead in Marketing
Sometimes all it takes is just for one person to make the difference. Zoe Manderson of Melbourne launched Roadtrip For Good website for businesses that are still open in affected areas.
In the meantime, communities are taking the initiative to woo tourists back. Genuine-sounding video campaigns such as Batemans Bay businesses urging Canberra residents to return to the South Coast of NSW invite tourists to visit impacted areas. This was ahead of Tourism Australia’s #holidayherethisyear videos.
A Melbourne resident launched Roadtrip For Good that lists the hotel & hospitality operators still open for business in the bushfire affected areas. Zoe Manderson, the website creator, allows businesses to list on the site for free.
A Spend with Them campaign on Instagram has attracted thousands of followers in just days of its launch. Burns survivor and author Turia Pitt wants people to buy as many products as possible from businesses in bushfire-affected towns. Another—It's My Shout!—connects consumers with various retailers in East Gippsland and urges purchase of meals, even coffee, for residents in need.
With communities coming together to help invite visitors back to places in dire need of them, all is left is for Australian tourism directors to draw up a tourism management policy and well-funded tactical plan that are sustainable long after the fires have extinguished (marketing alone won’t cut it, not in the long term).
And this can begin with futuristic discussions over a good cup of coffee that Australia cafes are well known for.
The writer Mallika Naguran is managing editor of Gaia Discovery and sustainable tourism consultant with Gaia Consult. This article may be reproduced with permission. Do contact us if you would like to do so.