Travel Industry Faces Up to PR Challenges

The travel industry has come out from under a cloud

Over the past few years, the travel and tourism industry has had to contend with a series of unprecedented challenges. International events, such as terrorism and SARS, and economic turbulence have led to significant changes in travel and tourism demand. Such international events have accelerated changes in market behaviour and travel patterns, and in turn created challenges and opportunities for communications professionals in the industry.

A growing number of companies in the travel industry are including crisis and issues management as part of the communications brief to consultancies, even though some sectors of the industry claim to have come out the other side of a tough couple of years. It is important for communications professionals to sit down with travel companies from the outset and plan crisis scenarios and how they will be handled.

When consumer confidence is low, and people are troubled about travelling through war zones, being hijacked or contracting diseases, the companies they travel with have to show they are a safe option and will look after their customers’ needs in times of difficulty. In the recent fatal minibus crash in South Africa, for example, travel company Exodus handled the tragedy extremely well. The chairman flew out and was seen to be supportive to the travellers and their families, and very open. Other companies can take a while to get someone senior involved and visible, and this makes them look unprofessional, as if they can’t handle it and don’t care.

As well as crisis and issues management, the travel industry faces challenges thanks to its sheer size - it is estimated to be the second largest industry in the world, with an expected quarter of a billion people employed by the end of this decade - and the fragmented nature of the sector.

Travel and tourism is split across the private and public sectors and is often not represented by a dedicated governmental department, despite its economic significance. In the UK, for example, tourism falls under the remit of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, while other government bodies deal with aviation. This requires public affairs professionals in the industry to really have their finger on the pulse of who deals with specific areas.

The same is true for communicators who deal with the media. National newspapers rarely have an editor or correspondent dedicated to tourism. Travel editors concentrate on the latest deals, offers, hotspots and new places to visit; transport editors report on the latest from the aviation, rail and shipping industries; and business editors do not necessarily see how tourism fits into the business agenda.

Travel pages are increasingly news-driven and starting to represent the true scope of the industry, but effective media relations campaigns need to be highly-targeted and multi-stranded if travel companies are to get beyond the travel pages into consumer, style and business sections. We achieve this on a regular basis for our travel clients. For example, for tour operator Saga Holidays, we recently produced a piece of research on well being which made headline news in its own right, not simply as a travel story.

Another broader trend for the industry is growing awareness of corporate social and environmental responsibility. The future of travel and tourism is not only in providing benefits for travellers, but also for the communities they visit, and natural, social and cultural environments. There is a delicate balance to be struck for communications professionals when it comes to corporate social and environmental responsibility campaigns. Many tour operators have contributed to local economies directly for years without seeing this as a PR opportunity. There are many potential pitfalls for travel companies who shout about how responsible they are: the fact that flying is fundamentally environmentally unfriendly, for instance. Communicators need to be highly sensitive to this and ensure that social and environmental responsibility genuinely comes before the PR.

Above all, if I’ve learnt anything from working with the travel industry, particularly over the last few years, it’s that travel companies and their communications teams need to move fast and be flexible. Travel and tourism has certainly been put through its paces but it is a resilient industry, surviving wars, recessions, strikes and crises, and will continue to be so. People will always want and need to travel, and I would like to think communicators have contributed to its resilience. If we are doing our job well, we are the ones encouraging and inspiring people to get up, get out there and explore. As they say, "he who has not seen the world has not lived". If only there was more time for communications practitioners to take such advice!

By Fenella Grey, account director, consumer practice, Weber Shandwick in London.