Speaking at the opening of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Thailand Chapter seminar on “Risk and Crisis Management in Tourism,” which took place on 17 June, 2009, Mr. Weerasak Kowsurat, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said he feels the Kingdom would benefit greatly from a centralized, national crisis response system. This would make it much more efficient and effective for Thailand to manage crisis situations and communicate clearly with stakeholders, especially potential international visitors.

“TAT works hard to promote the Kingdom’s unique tourist attractions to domestic and international travellers through many media and Internet channels,” said Mr. Weerasak. “These same channels carry news and images of crises in Thailand that present a negative image to potential visitors, often amplified by continuously highlighting a few of the worst aspects of the situation. To help restore a positive image for Thailand, TAT communicates quickly and openly when a crisis arises to help give international stakeholders an accurate and balanced view of what is actually happening here.”

As an example, Mr. Weerasak explained that, during the street protests in Bangkok during the Songkran holiday in April 2009, videos and pictures of road blocks, burning buses and the military on Bangkok’ streets gave the impression that the situation in Thailand was getting totally out of control. “TAT focused on communicating the reality here on the ground to our international stakeholders. Most of the street blockades were limited to a few areas of Bangkok where tourists usually don’t go. The protests were an internal political conflict with no foreigners or tourists targeted or harmed in any way. Once the situation was cleared up, life in Bangkok was back to normal within a couple of days.”

TAT has had its Tourism Intelligence Unit and Communication Centre (TIC) in place since 2007. The TIC is a centralized nerve centre that collects information and develops and implements communication plans during crisis situations to help ensure stakeholders have a clear and accurate understanding of the situation.

Although a marketing organization, TAT has gained considerable experience dealing with large-scale crises, starting with the avian flu and Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, through to the recent political protests. Through the TIC, TAT has implemented crisis management programmes on an unprecedented scale.

When protestors closed down Suvarnabhumi International Airport in November 2009, the TIC assumed responsibility for looking after the stranded travellers in addition to its communications role.

“Other ministries and departments were focused on the situation within Thailand. The TIC took the lead in developing a rapid response programme to get those trapped in the airport out and taking care of the more than 300,000 international visitors stranded here, finding them accommodation and arranging alternative transportation home. We had to exercise some authority to achieve our goals of coordinating between government departments and getting the updated information international stakeholders needed into worldwide distribution,” said Mr. Weerasak.

TAT’s experience has revealed three major challenges Thailand must address to improve its crisis communications capability. The first is a lack of information integration, with inconsistent data from many different government ministries and departments and some difficulty agreeing about what is correct. The second is establishing a more structured communications process for quicker identification of communications channels, messages to deliver and designated spokespeople. Finally, there is a need for better overall crisis management, with one agency responsible for formulating a national-level crisis management plan and a single decision-maker.

“Given the large number of ministries and departments that must coordinate in a crisis situation, Thailand would benefit greatly from a centralized, national crisis response system,” said Mr. Weerasak. “It would include major partners related to the tourism sector; such as, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of the Interior, immigration-related agencies, TAT, Tourism Council of Thailand, provincial tourism associations, Thai Hotel Association, Association of Thai Travel Agents, and others. To ensure readiness, it would be essential to identify the focal point for each organization, lay out policies and procedures for coordinated operation, and conduct periodic crisis simulations.”

He added it is also important to establish a national crisis management agenda that precisely defines commanding authority during the crisis situation. It should cover areas; such as, preparing and issuing statements and press releases, establishing communications channels and processes, and determining the supporting agency responsible for IT.

“The Thai government has put tourism at the top of the national agenda. Tourism crisis preparedness must be an equal priority, so we can respond effectively to a variety of crisis situations. This is especially important as new crises may emerge due to climate change, biological outbreaks, terrorism, or international crime. To be ready to handle tourist crisis communications, we must think about the unthinkable – and have a centralized system in place to handle the crisis when it happens,” concluded Mr. Weerasak.