Ken Hughey
Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand
(Invited paper, South Island Civil Defence Emergency Management
Conference, Greymouth, 30-31 July 2014)

• Tourists – domestic and international
• Migrant workers – domestic and international
• School pupils – domestic and international
• University students – domestic and international
• Others?

• Remember NZ has a popn of c.4.5m people; 1m in the
SI and the rest in the North.
• Others are virtually everywhere in the country, at any time, often in vast numbers, e.g.,:
– Foreign school students: N=16,000 (in 2011), mainly in major towns & cities (CTV Building in CHCH EQ)
– Foreign university students: N= 80,000 (2011) - cities
– Migrant workers: N=120,000 (2011) – varies, but CHCH
– International visitors: N=2,500,0009 (2013) – everywhere
(with some overlap in numbers with above data)

• English often the 2 nd or 3 rd language:
– challenging to communicate with?
• Highly mobile – in one place for less than a day or maybe up to 6-months:
– of no fixed abode?
• Multiple forms of communication – cell, email, etc:
– how best to communicate?
• Often use diverse and hard to track forms of transport/accommodation: camper vans, bikes, boarding, freedom camping:
– how do you know where they are?

• Very seasonal, peak in January
• Core products: coastal tourism and cultural products
• Winterless North, but …
• Exposed to extreme climatic events
(floods, storms) and tsunamis
• Key players: Destination Northland and Tourism Development Group

Directly: safety, closures, cancellations
Indirectly: damaged assets, disruptions, negative media coverage

• Many roads were cut
• Many tourists were stranded
• Much media interest
• General view: ‘we were lucky’
• Both Civil Defence and Tourism interests wanted to know how well the event was ‘managed’
• Interviewed key stakeholders in both CDEM and the tourism industry …

• Tourism operators generally experienced with natural disasters
• No formal warning system (or contact tree) for tourism businesses
• Freedom campers are a concern
• No plan for communication to tourism stakeholders (in NZ and overseas) during and after an event
• Northland CDEM systems in place, but no formal integration of tourism ( We reviewed all NZ CDEM plans and found little or no reference to tourism in almost all (Queenstown an exception )
• Opportunity for greater integration of tourism aspects into disaster risk reduction (based on the Four Rs)

• Visitor welfare
– Food and potentially clothing
– Shelter (welfare centre/other accommodation)
– Socio-psychological support
(e.g. through Victim Support or Salvation Army)
• Information flows, different target groups - Important observations:
– Visitors are generally able to obtain information (e.g. many have mobile phones): language challenges
– Information centres are critical for information and assistance): language challenges
– TNZ website and channels are important): language challenges
– The role of social media needs to be examined and opportunities exploited): language challenges

• Passports and Visas
– Diplomatic implications when passports/visas are lost
– Partnership between tourism organisations, education organisations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Immigration NZ, embassies and others
• Families of Victims
– Assistance required (socio-psychological, travel arrangements, other logistics and formalities)
– Specific information needs

Tourism can play an important role in the Response:
1. Assisting in dealing with displaced visitors
2. Gathering of information from the tourism and education sectors
(how many and where?)
3. Connecting Civil Defence with accommodation and other hospitality (food/feeding/catering) services
4. Providing external communications and dealing with the media
5. Maintaining tourism activities (and economic flow on effects) elsewhere in New Zealand (e.g. rebooking of itineraries)

• Rescue and Missing people
– All people are treated the same
– “Tracking down” of visitors is challenging
• Coordination and Communication
– Challenges and gaps in the first 24 hours very typical for any disaster situation
– Lack of consideration of visitor industry resulted in oversights in the immediate response by Civil Defence
– Different protocols for different organisations involved in offshore communication
– False reporting, some sensationalism
– Relationship with media essential to avoid damaging reporting and to capitalise on media as communication channel
– Overly negative travel advisories
– Innovative campaigns important – see photo above

International frameworks: PPRR
(e.g. Hills, 1998 in
Ritchie, 2008)
Faulkner’s Framework (2001)
Prevention / Mitigation 1. Pre-event phase: contingency plans, scenario analyses, hazard assessments.
Preparedness
Response
Recovery
New Zealand: the
Four Rs used in the
CDEM framework
Reduction
2. Prodromal phase: due to an imminent disaster, early warning systems are activated and command centres are established.
Readiness
3. Emergency phase: Actions are necessary to protect people and property.
4. Intermediate phase: short term needs of people/tourists have to be addressed and media communication is critical.
Response
5. Recovery phase: Rebuilding of infrastructure, marketing of destination.
6.Resolution phase: evaluation and feedback.
Recovery

• Initial consultation
• Two rounds of interviews
• Business survey
• In-depth meetings with CDEM and Destination
Northland
• Workshop with Tourism Development Group
• Final workshop with tourism stakeholders approval of VAP

Template for linking tourism into the existing
Civil Defence structure
(on the left hand side of the
Figure) based on the Northland case study
CIVIL DEFENCE
Northland Civil Defence and
Emergency Management Group

Coordinating Executive Group

CDEM Offices (regional and local)
Community
Response Groups
Northland CDEM Plan
Reduction
Readiness
Community
Response Plans
Response
Recovery
TOURISM
Tourism Cluster
Destination Northland
Tourism Development Group
Business groups
Maori RTO i-Sites
Other
Tourism Action Plan
Tourism-specific Reduction
Tourism-specific Readiness
Tourism-specific Response
Tourism-specific Recovery

Suggestions for what a Visitor Action Plan for tourism should contain
(provided by respondents to the tourism operator survey)
Reduction Readiness Response Recovery Not specific to one of the Rs
Planning and mitigation
Consultation and education
Warning systems
(Early) Evacuation and Transportation communication
Rescue and welfare
Communications
Rebuild
Assistance
Communications
Communications
Hazards
Other

Visitor Action Plan adopted by the Tourism
Cluster in Northland – example components
Action Leadership Preparation
Identify, map, understand hazards for businesses
Civil Defence in partnership with
Destination Northland
Use existing hazard assessments (e.g. tsunami maps) and ensure tourism operators know about them.
Tourism linked into CEG Destination Northland Attend meetings of the Coordinating Executive
Group (CEG) in CDEM.
Destination Northland
Crisis Plan
External communications plan and templates
Destination Northland Hold a staff meeting and collect information on contact details and what people would do in an emergency;
Perform emergency drills.
Destination Northland and businesses
Prepare templates and keep them in a readily available folder and electronically;
Consider media training for emergency.

Action
Reduction Identify, map, understand hazards for businesses
Readiness Develop a
Communication
Network
Leadership (proposed)
Civil Defence in partnership with Destination Northland
I-site mgrs coordinate development of contact tree by sub region and by industry group (include DN manager)




Preparation

Use existing hazard assessments (e.g.
tsunami maps ) and ensure tourism operators know about them

Workshop format?
Identify existing contact trees (e.g. CRPs, MANZ, etc.)
Develop trees for gaps (consider new technology like twitter)
Ensure that trees are linked to CD in most efficient way
Discuss back up and data sharing protocols
Destination Northland

Attend meetings of the Coordinating Executive Group in CDEM Tourism linked into
CEG
Annual Review TDG

Response
Recovery
Business Crisis “Todo ” list and plan
Destination Northland
Crisis Plan
I-Site Crisis Plan
Ensure tourism is well connected
Destination Northland in partnership with CD
Destination Northland
I-Sites, either individually or collectively
TDG

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
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Allocate slot in meeting once a year to discuss CDEM issues (e.g. winter meeting); discuss upcoming issues
Use existing checklists (e.g. PATA , p. 51-58)
Workshop format?
Templates , e.g. Tourism Victoria
Hold a staff meeting and collect information on contact details and what people would do in an emergency ( follow example of Positively
Wellington)
Drill
Hold a staff meeting and collect information on contact details and what people would do in an emergency
Drill
Keep informed and maintain contacts with important national and regional organisation that might assist recovery
External comms plan and templates
Destination Northland and businesses


Prepare templates electronically and keep them in a readily available folder and
Consider media training for emergency

• Project recently approved (for KH and Susanne Becken, Griffith
University) with CDEM Resilience Collaborative Fund to:
– Evaluate Northland experience – what is working, what isn’t, what can we do better?
– Apply that experience to the West Coast of the South Island context
• Consider how the VAP concept might be linked with an integrated certification programme, e.g., Qualmark in New Zealand
• Tie to international initiatives in this space
• Raise the question more generally – would your region benefit from closer links with Tourism and would this build resilience?

• Tourism is probably more exposed to natural disasters than any other ‘group’ in the population
• Often, emergency management systems do not explicitly consider tourism
• Tourism’s concerns need to be addressed, and at the same time tourism is an important resource
• Tourist destinations are a suitable partner for disaster management
• A proactive approach is better than a reactive one

Contact: ken.hughey@lincoln.ac.nz