by Stephen Barth
Photo taken by
Sarunas Burdulis
On July 26, 2011, CNN posted the article “Despite violence, Mexico tourism remains strong.” Complete with a beautiful slideshow of pictures from tourists, the article posits that with cautious awareness, travel to Mexico is safe and can result in a memorable and deeply rewarding trip.
In fact, the article argues, travel to Mexico is increasing. Citing statistics from Mexico’s tourism ministry, in 2011, “Mexico has seen a 40.9% increase in Brazilian tourists, a 58.1% increase from Russia and 32.8% increase from China.”
And yet, the perception continues that travel to Mexico is unsafe and should be postponed. How can these two realities coexist?
Not Just in Mexcio: A Global Occurrence
Photo taken by
eperales
The scrutiny surrounding Mexico in recent years, involving traveler safety due to drug cartels and when the H1N1 flu erupted, simply put, results in travel disruptions and has significant economic implications. If tourists do not come to Mexico, bus tour companies, hotels, restaurants, and attractions are affected by the lack of tourists.
In other words, the domino effect of travel disruptions affects all segments of the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries: if planes cannot fly due to disasters, trains, buses and taxis suffer, hotels remain empty, and meetings get cancelled, while food and beverages go unsold.
This causal effect occurs every time a natural or man made disaster occurs, and in 2011, has been seen in Japan, Egypt, and other countries.
Learning From Each Other, Lessons for Mexico
Photo taken by
Josh Larios
As the Mexican tourism ministry works to improve Mexico’s image and global perception as a safe tourist destination, its officials should not operate alone.
For example, what Chinese officials learned during the SARS outbreak could have been shared with global health officials when the H1N1 epidemic erupted in Mexico.
In response to the recent Icelandic volcanic ash, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said , “The CAA has led work within Europe to update requirements for operating in and around Volcanic Ash.” What are those updates? What are the lessons learned? Taking that line of questioning one step further, can the CAA share those best practices with other industries, such as cruise lines, to minimize passenger disruption when natural disasters occur?
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has instituted screening procedures for both passengers and baggage. But have those procedures been shared with ports and ground transportation companies?
Without a public-private dialogue among the global travel, tourism, and hospitality industries, travel disruptions will continue to be dangerous, cost economies financially, and diminish traveler satisfaction.
The Global Congress on Travel: Creating the Dialogue
Photo taken by
Roy Luck
HospitalityLawyer.com and the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau are hosting the Global Congress on Legal, Safety, and Security Solutions in Travel, in Houston, Texas, August 25-28, to address these issues and many more. The Congress, designed for travel suppliers, travel buyers, and public travel supporters, aims to reduce the number of costly travel disruptions.
Lessons and best practices learned in one area of the world or in one industry can and should be shared with other geographic regions and other industries, not isolated to specific industries or one region. The Global Congress will facilitate this much-needed dialogue.
In the session “Best Practices in Entry and Exit Procedures,” Attorney Charles Foster with FosterQuan will help government officials understand how countries balance their need to welcome visitors versus increasing security concerns. What are the best practices and how can you effectuate needed change?
The media’s portrayal of Mexico’s safety affects travelers’ perspective and influences their decision to travel to Mexico. With recent headlines like “10 Killed in Bar Shooting in Mexico” and “Official: 3 teens, one a U.S. citizen, killed in Mexican border city,” foreigners can gain the impression that travel to all of Mexico is unsafe. However, The U.S. State Department’s April 22, 2011, Travel Warning, states “Resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes.”
The Global Congress on Travel session “The Media's Role in Creating and Sustaining a Travel Crisis: What the Changing Media Landscape Means for Media, Travelers and the Travel Industry” gathers a Professor from the Columbia School of Journalism, a Travel Editor from the Huffington Post, and other industry leaders to discuss the news media's coverage of events and the consequences that coverage has on travel, tourism and economies. Clearly the news media has an obligation to report newsworthy events and inform the public, but do they have an ethical obligation to report the complete story? For example, if a tornado destroys a section of a city and the coverage shows the devastation but not the fact that 95% of the community is unaffected by the tragedy, is that appropriate? Similarly, should the media balance their reports of shootings with statistics showing that leisure travel to Mexico resorts is mostly safe?
The 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, first reported in Mexico, also affected Mexican tourism. Some countries went so far as to cancel flights to Mexico. In the panel “Contagious Outbreaks: Appropriate Responses in all Sectors of Public Accommodation,” Drs. Druckman and Stein will provide best practices for reacting to contagious diseases in hotels and restaurants.
The Congress has attracted the attention of Roger Dow, President of the U.S. Travel Association and Co-Chair of the Advisory Board for the Global Congress on Travel, who has said the Congress is an “unprecedented convergence of global experience and expertise.”
This Congress is a must-attend for companies doing business internationally or with employees traveling internationally. Ron DiLeo, Executive Director for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and Co-Chair of the Global Congress Advisory Board, "The Global Congress is an extraordinary opportunity for the entire corporate travel team to learn best practices for meeting legal obligations and executing safe and secure travel."
For more information on the Global Congress, please visit www.globalcongressontravel.com or call +1 (713) 963-8800.
