Tourism Risk Management Strategy for the Asia-Pacific

In light of the recent terrorist attack on Bali and the SARS epidemic, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is taking a lead role in delivering a new Risk Management Strategy for use in tourist destinations and other areas affected by natural or man-made catastrophes.

Leading researchers from the APEC International Centre for Sustainable Tourism (AICST) are developing this Risk Management Strategy with assistance from APEC government agencies and NGOs, and key private sector interests in insurance, law, media and management.

Australian Professor Jeff Wilks from The University of Queensland leads the team of research experts on behalf of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism, who are the appointed project managers. Further collaboration will be forthcoming from James Cook University (AUST), Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK), and the University of Hawaii (USA).

The strategy will be based on worldwide experience in risk management and crisis recovery, particularly the lessons learnt from 11 September 2001, the more recent terrorist attacks on Bali, SARS and natural disasters that impact on the 21 APEC member economies.

The strategy will be delivered by AICST to all tiers of government in the 21 countries of APEC by September ?03. Each government will be able to incorporate the strategy into its risk management and crisis recovery planning.

APEC member economies will also be assisted by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) to disseminate the strategy to the region?s tourism industry groups and operators. The implementation of guidelines and procedures from the Risk Management Strategy will better prepare the Asia Pacific tourism industry to deal with future crises.

"Tourism traditionally has little expertise in the area of risk management. The unique aspect of this international project is that it draws on the successful partnerships in other areas of government and industry to assist tourism in dealing effectively with unexpected events", says Professor Wilks.

Funding partners for this important APEC program include Dept of Industry, Tourism & Resources & AusAID (Australia), the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Korea.

AICST is the tourism research centre representing 21 APEC economies. It is established by APEC to undertake collaborative research on issues that impact on the future of tourism in the Asia Pacific region.

Further details about the APEC International Centre for Sustainable Tourism and the APEC Tourism Working Group are available at: http://www.apecsec.org.sg/workgroup/tourism_upd.html