VisitEngland and the Tourism Alliance have joined forces to produce ‘Responding to extreme weather: A practical guide for tourism businesses’ to help businesses deal with the consequences of extreme weather, such as flooding.
Such serious events not only impact directly on businesses, often forcing them to cease trading while they cope with the damage or disruption, but can also affect the attractiveness of a destination by damaging public realm infrastructure. All of this can impact negatively on visitors’ perceptions of personal safety, access, availability of accommodation and the likelihood of disruption to their travel plans.
The problem can be exaggerated and confusing
The nature of media coverage also means that perceptions of the scale of the problem can be exaggerated and can impact on businesses and areas that have not been directly affected by the weather (a lesson learnt from the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001).
Sensational images of flooding and storms stick in people’s minds far more easily than details of the specific locations that are actually experiencing these problems, resulting in confused consumers, false perceptions and potentially impact on future bookings.
Such public uncertainty about the extent of the problem and damage, and its impact on accessibility to certain parts of the country, makes it important that tourism businesses such as hotels establish an accurate assessment of the situation and pass this information on to customers and potential customers on a regular basis.
Have a communications plan
Having a simple communications plan for your business is one of the steps you can take to help manage the impact. Developing a thought-out response ensures that you put the issue into perspective, reassure visitors and observers about the measures being taken to address the situation (if there is a problem), and fully explain the true extent of the issue.
Experience has shown that the lack of a planned, coordinated communications effort can significantly delay the time it takes for a business or destination to attract visitors back after such events have ended.
The aim of this plan is to provide practical guidance to help businesses affected by the extreme weather and flooding, create both an immediate and longer-term approach to communicating with their customers and signpost operators to further sources of support and advice, to help reduce the impact on their business.
Download the full guide ‘Responding to extreme weather: A practical guide for tourism businesses – Winter 2014′