The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has launched a series of webinars for 2012 that will tackle topics such as crisis management, social media, sustainability, and cross-cultural training. Webinars are scheduled for two Wednesdays every month at 1300 hours Bangkok time. The first one is on Wednesday February 1 and is about crisis management.
PATA CEO Martin J Craigs said: “Seismic shocks in the shape of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, bombs, political uprisings, and diseases do great harm to the travel industry. With due diligence, organizations and destinations can take practical steps to be prepared, minimize impacts and speed the bounce back. PATA’s crisis management webinars will give you insights, procedures and checklists to deal with crises much more effectively.”
The webinars are free to PATA members and US$100 to non-members. All participants will receive a copy of PATA’s “Bounce Back” crisis management booklet.
For the crisis webinars the schedule is:
February 1: Risk Mitigation & Crisis Management 101
March 7: Risk evaluation and avoidance preparation
April 11: The 4 ‘Rs’ of Crisis Management
May 16: Crisis Communication
Key presenters of the first webinar, “Risk Mitigation and Crisis Management in Tourism 101” are Mr Bert van Walbeek (“the master of disaster”), Managing Director, The Winning Edge, and Chairman, PATA Thailand Chapter, and acclaimed tourism crisis management author, Mr David Beirman, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology, Sydney.
Mr Beirman said: “When we in the travel industry deal with crisis, it has to be appreciated that crises can result from actual loss and damage to business and reputation and perceptual loss and damage to business or reputation. The PATA webinars are designed to help tourism industry professionals manage both.”
Mr van Walbeek said: “Many destinations have suffered not only from the immediate personal and economic impact from crisis, but also from the ongoing and residual damage which makes it even harder to restore confidence in the destination as a safe, desirable place to visit. One of the first proactive activities of the new PATA Rapid Recovery Task Force has been the publication of risk mitigation and crisis management guidelines called “Bounce Back”. We are delivering the content in a series of six webinars which reflect the six sections of Bounce Back. The webinars will offer many practical tips and ideas on how you can reduce risk, be better prepared for critical scenarios, and -- most importantly -- bounce back quickly.”
