e at the International Travel Crisis Management Summit. Ian Taylor reports from London


Tui comms chief outlines group’s crisis checklists


Tui has honed its crisis response to “working down checklists”, group head of corporate communications Martin Reicken told the International Travel Crisis Management Summit.


Reicken said: “Crisis communications needs guidelines. But no one can work with a big handbook. Condense them – no more than 16 pages.” He said: “In aviation, if something goes wrong, you stay cool and work down a checklist. This is crucial. You have to train, but you need something to start. We have checklists for everything.” Reicken told the summit:


“There is a tendency in large organisations to say ‘It won’t happen’. Keeping awareness and building resilience is key. Every situation is different, but some things are the same. “First, what is the severity of the crisis? Is it localised or does it


“I can immediately activate the entire 90-plus comms team with one click through an app on my phone”


threaten every market? Tui used to be 30 brands, now it is just one. Our biggest asset is probably our brand, but if something fails it can have a huge impact. “It is key to get in the game as quickly as possible. I can immediately activate the entire communications team with one click through an app on my phone. It notifies 0-plus staff. ou have to have a fast response. Say: ‘We are aware. We are responding.’” He said: “Create a situation


room, and create [space] to ask the right questions.” Reicken previously worked at Lufthansa and was involved in


MARTIN REICKEN: ‘If something goes wrong, work down a list’


the response to the Eurowings disaster when a pilot deliberately crashed an aircraft in the Alps in March 2015, killing 150 passengers and crew. He said: “Social media were


always ahead of the story and we were always responding rather than leading.” Partly in response, Tui had


introduced Tui Communications Manager, which logs every incident, Reicken said. “You need intelligence and


you need one platform. Plans are useless, but planning is essential – [and] plans are nothing without training. Don’t hide away if a crisis happens. Show your face. If you don’t have anything to say, say that. Crisis communications does not work from behind your desk.”


ITCMS changes name to show resilience is key


The third International Travel Crisis Management Summit (ITCMS) in London last week will be the last as the name will change to the Global Travel & Tourism Resilience Council (GTTRC) Summit. ITCMS founder Daniela Wagner


noted the event “has become the go-to platform for the sector to share experiences and develop partnerships”. But she said: “Desti- nation countries want to be associ- ated with resilience not crisis.” Jamaica tourism minister


Edmund Bartlett and former World Travel & Tourism Council secretary general Taleb Rifai will be founding directors of the GTTRC. The first GTTC Summit will be held in South Africa next May. Wagner is head of international partnerships for Travel Weekly owner Jacobs Media Group.


DANIELA WAGNER: Countries prefer link to ‘resilience not crisis’


‘Sorry’ should not be the hardest word, says crisis expert


Companies should say “sorry” when something serious goes wrong, according to a leading expert in crisis response. Robert Jensen, chief executive of


Kenyon International Emergency Services, told the summit: “Saying sorry is never an admission of guilt. [But] when companies don’t say sorry, it’s a problem.” He said: “You can’t manage the media. You can’t manage the event. But you can manage your


response. It’s not messaging that is important, it is responding and then communicating how you are responding.”


Jensen said: “There are three


parts to a communications plan: acknowledge what has happened, say you’re responding, and say that your concern is for those directly affected.” He added: “You need a plan,


preparation and training. [But] your plan is not your response.”


ROBERT JENSEN: ‘People are tiring of hearing ‘everything is strong’”


Jensen agreed with Tui head of


corporate communications Martin Reicken that “you need checklists”. e suggested crisis-response


teams should stop using taglines such as ‘the city is strong’ following an incident, saying: “Everything is ‘strong’ now. People are getting tired of that. An incident is big to the people involved but not to everyone else in the world. “Don’t focus on the headlines, focus on the people affected.”


15 November 2018travelweekly.co.uk87


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