How Safe Are We?
And how safe is our destination?

Much has changed since 9/11. Once security was the stepchild of the travel and tourism world; today it is an essential part of the industry. Tourism security specialist, Dr. Peter Tarlow, warns that the fate of the world's largest industry depends on how well DMO managers meet the security challenge.

It is now 5 years since 9/11 during which much has changed in the world of tourism and travel. There is no doubt that travel today is a lot harder than it was five years ago. In fact, the travel industry has changed so much and so rapidly that almost anything said about it becomes obsolete almost immediately. During the last five years, tourism and travel have come to realise that the old assumption that 'security adds nothing to the bottom line' is no longer valid.

Unfortunately we are seeing an example of this truth with the recent crime wave in New Orleans. This crime spree threatens the city's possible tourism recovery. Smart tourism professionals and city (state or national) governments today sees security as an integral part of their marketing efforts. Once security was the stepchild of the travel and tourism world, today it is an essential part of the industry.

Tourism and travel customers no longer fear security; they embrace it and ask DMO marketers about it. One of the ways that this new age of security is coming about is in the growth of private security forces (also known as private police forces). Private security in many parts of the world has now become an essential ingredient in tourism security. While its members do not always have the right to arrest, in contrast to regular police forces, they often can provide constant presence and immediate response time. As such in an age of rising taxes and undermanned police forces, private security for some areas of tourism has become an option to consider.

Private security has also become an option to consider for city governments faced with the public's desire for pro-active protection and seeking relief from heavy tax burdens. In the last five years the public then has come to expect some form of security not only at airports but at such places as: Shopping centers, Amusement Areas/Parks, Transportation Hub, Hotels and Convention Centers, Cruises ships, and Sporting Events. An understanding then of how tourism security works and what it does is essential for any DMO. Because a destination is a composite of many sub-industries below you will find a partial list of some of the industry's major components. Not every DMO has control over every tourism industry component; lack of control should not however translate into lack of awareness.

Here is a partial list on what DMOs need to know about how we in the tourism industry have been doing during the last five years.

• The Airline Industry. Perhaps no part of tourism has received as much attention around the world as the airline industry. There is no doubt that airlines are an essential part of tourism: without air transportation many locales simply die and air traffic is not only an essential part of the leisure tourism business but also an essential part of commerce, business travel and the shipment of goods.
  
  
  
  Air travel today is much less pleasant than it was five years ago. Many travelers see these measures as irrational, wasteful and pointless. Not only have new security regulations made life difficult for travelers, but also all forms of customer service have declined. From food to smiles, airlines simply provide less and often seem to be capricious in the way they treat the public. It is therefore disappointing that so little has been accomplished in air transport security.
  
  Our customers often have the feeling that airline security is more reactive than proactive, that governments and the industry are fighting the last battle.
• Possible solutions and consequences. Unless security can be both streamlined and rationalised, the tourism industry will be hurt. At some point, leisure travelers will simply decide that flying is too difficult and the results will be that vacations will become limited to areas within a day's driving distance. Added technology will also increase the cost of air travel to the point that the cost of flying may make air tickets prohibitive. To solve this dilemma it may be necessary to concentrate on the people who may threaten visitor security rather than on the objects that may cause harm. That means better-trained personnel. These people may need to employ psychological methods to help to determine who may be a threat to air travel.
• Lodging Safety and Security. A possible source of trouble for DMOs is the fact that five years after 9/11 minimal security updates have taken place at many places of lodging, be these large business hotels or bed 'n breakfasts. On the positive side, some hotels have taken the step of increased training, others have added additional security cameras (passive protections) and still others have begun to develop methodologies to protect both the loading areas and the food delivery services.
  
  Finally, in some cases there is some form of employee background check. Cities such as Las Vegas have done a good job not only with hotel employee background checks but also in integrating private and public security agencies. On the negative side, there is often no check of baggage, too many employees have no background checks and security departments, when they exist at all, are often poorly trained, paid and utilised. Many hotel mangers still use an outdated model and believe that their security forces add nothing to their bottom line.

• Restaurants. Restaurants and catering services for the most part act as if 9/11 never happened. Most restaurants and food services are performing with no distinction in service. Needless to say this lack of security ought to be a major DMO concern. Not only can an outbreak of food illnesses come from non-natural sources, but the recent e-coli scares ought to wake the industry, up to what can become a marketing and public relations crisis.

Some things for DMO professionals to think about:

• Technologies do not save people; good people save people. This is an essential principle of tourism surety (security plus safety). The public is only as safe as the caring and concern of the people who protect them. If security personnel (both private and public) care, and most do, then levels of protection increase. If, on the other hand, security personnel are only doing a job and do not see their work as a vocation, then even the best equipment in the world will be thwarted.
• Money does not solve everything and marketing can be no more than a temporary fix. The enemies of tourism use both economics and creative inexpensive tactics to attack the tourism industry. Thinking out of the box is essential. A good example is the use of clam diggers around Logan airport. These people are always watching the runways and many were deputized and are now used as an additional level or airport security.
  
  DMO professionals need to look at their destination with fresh eyes and create major networks of interested parties. Some of these ought to include government officials, police departments, private security, hotel and restaurant officials, and heads of major attractions.

• Make sure that your security personnel take care of themselves. Security is a high stress job and personnel need to take extra health precautions. Security personnel who work too many hours per day tend to miss things. Security personnel should not only have regular medical and dental check-ups but meet with nutritionists to ensure proper eating habits. Many DMOs tend to ignore the psychological and physical health of their tourism-responders. Such lack of attention destroys not only the tourism responders' ésprit de corps but also lessens the products security
• Customer Service. The best security is provided when there is a corporate culture based on customer service. When security personnel are arrogant and uncaring, tourism security suffers. These are people who are doing more than protecting the public; they are tourism's first line of defense and often the persons who can either prevent or transform a tragedy.

DMOs are only as successful as they are secure and a destination is no more secure than its weakest part. In our post 9-11 age, it behoves every DMO to interact with security professionals who understand both tourism and security. The fate of the world's largest industry depends on how well DMO managers meet the security challenge.

The above article was adapted from the November edition of Tourism Tidbits. You can subscribe to Tourism Tidbits by writing to Dr. Peter Tarlow at tourism@bihs.net

About the Author:
Dr. Peter E. Tarlow is president of Tourism & More Inc, College Station Texas. Tourism & More specialises in all aspects of security and marketing for the tourism and hospitality industries. You can reach Peter Tarlow via email at tourism@bihs.net or at telephone +1-979-764-8402.