Local governments in England have considerable scope to decide whether and how to engage in tourism activities. Local governments’ engagement in tourism activity and service provision is discretionary, minimally funded, and usually delivered on the margins of larger service areas. In the absence of a strong lead from national government, the nature and extent of tourism activity are subject to local interpretation. This means that at the local level there will be a wide variety of approaches to tourism. Surveys by Richards (1991) and Stevenson and Lovatt (2001) show that local government is involved in a range of tourism activities. These include direct activities such as the creation of tourism partnerships, marketing and promotion, the provision of visitor information, attraction and event planning, management and development. Indirect activities include infrastructure and service provision that impacts upon visitors and their overall experience. A growing number of tourism activities are carried out by agencies or through partnership arrangements with other governmental and non-governmental organisations. In the 2001 survey, commonly cited examples of the type of service offered in partnership with other organisations included promotional campaigns, marketing and research, developing a tourism product, improving service quality and event organisation (Stevenson and Lovatt, 2001).

On Thursday 7 July 2005, four suicide bombers struck in central London, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770. The attack targeted the public transport system, with three bombs going off on the metro system, and one on a double-decker bus. The suicide bombers were radicalised Muslims. On 21 July of the same year, a second attempted bomb attack was narrowly prevented. Both events were heavily publicised in the media, and the image of London as an unsafe city was sent around the world.

Whilst the first two quarters of 2005 showed high growth in overseas residents’ visits to the UK, growth rates fell sharply after the terrorist attacks. Despite the overall increase in visits to the UK in 2005, visits to London declined by 3.7 per cent in quarter 3 and by 1.2 per cent in quarter 4 when compared with the same period in 2004. These falls compared with large increases of 13 per cent and 10 per cent in visits to the capital in quarters 1 and 2 respectively. Leisure tourism also declined more sharply than business tourism (National Statistics, 2006).

After the attack, London’s mantra was ‘business as usual’. The London Development Agency, and the local tourist board, Visit London, developed a guide to help tourism through the first few weeks after the crisis. The guide gave advice on communication, pricing and product strategies businesses could use to reduce the negative impacts of the crisis. It also provided legal and financial advice, strategies for dealing with employees, and a list of contacts in relevant public agencies in London and their responsibilities. Below are a number of examples of the guidelines provided:

Websites: We live in an era of instant communication and your customers will use websites to inform themselves. It is important that you review your own website and post some information there immediately. This can be developed over the next few days but a brief statement reassures customers that you are well prepared.

Be proactive: Review your bookings and identify any that are particularly valuable. Prepare a message for your future bookings in letter, telephone, script and web form. Identify the positive reasons why people should still travel. Contact your customers and tell them that you are looking forward to welcoming them.

Review your offer: In a few days you will have some idea of how badly your business is affected. You will need to act to replace lost customers. In the short term, you will need to offer customers some incentive, and this can be a special offer, some added value, a discounted price, a loyalty bonus, a new feature.

Positive public relations: In the early days of a crisis it is very easy to believe that there is only bad news. The danger is that this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy – the tourism industry ‘talks down’ London and therefore visitors stay away. Taking a positive approach means being realistic but optimistic. Try to develop a focus on what visitors will be able to enjoy and emphasise the welcome they will receive from Londoners.

Build your relationships: If you receive business from agents, tour operators or incoming handling agents, get in touch with them. They will be able to give you good market intelligence and you can talk to them about what you can do together to encourage customers.

Review marketing campaigns: You will need to check whether any booked advertising is appropriate. You may decide to cancel some advertising because the message is wrong given the circumstances. Hong Kong tourism experienced an example of this. They had booked colour advertising that featured the slogan ‘A breath of fresh air’, which was due to run at the height of the SARS outbreak when residents were wearing face masks. The cost of cancelling advertising is better than the bad publicity generated by insensitive messages (LDA, 2005).

Reflective Questions

1. These guidelines place a heavy emphasis on online communication. Why is the internet such an important and useful communication tool in the aftermath of a crisis?
2. Have you ever decided against visiting a destination for safety reasons? What would convince you a destination was safe again after a crisis?