Page 149 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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1 130 Crisis Communication

Netherlands, 6 per cent more than the year before. It would be
too much to claim that this increase was due purely to the effec-
tive communication the NBT had set in place, but the prompt
and accurate response to the questions of potential tourists did
help to reassure them that the country was a safe holiday desti-
nation, worth visiting, and that the floods affected only a limited
part of the country.
What were the lessons learnt?
The most important lesson is, start to communicate immediately,
no matter how scant and incomplete your information might be.
Fast information helps to counter any inaccurate or negative pic-
tures the media publish from a disaster area and supports them
in giving the right picture. Until 1995, the impact of (potential)
natural disasters and the picture foreign media painted of them
had never been considered in The Netherlands as a potential
danger to the image foreign tourists can have of a holiday desti-
nation. Yet being aware of this possibility is important, as the
Dutch economy depends heavily on incoming tourism.
The communication professionals at the NBT headquarters
and in the offices abroad had never before cooperated so inten-
sively on an issue in order to control the damage media atten-
tion can cause. The idea of sending objective information to the
foreign offices of the NBT had a tremendously positive impact,
first on the colleagues abroad, to whom the communications
department in the NBT headquarters could add value, by sup-
plying them with accurate and up-to-date information; second
there was a positive impact on the image of The Netherlands in
countries which are very important to Dutch tourism: Germany,
Belgium, Great Britain, France, Italy, the United States and
Japan.
Up-to-date information from several sources, coordinated
and organized by the communications department of the NBT
headquarters, helped to get the right message across and reas-
sured the worried public. A side effect was that the press officers
of the foreign offices could give their local press contacts the
same information, contributing to downplaying the issue. In the
years since the floods, the plans and information network set up
have proven their value once again, during the foot and mouth
crisis (2001) and the bird flu scare (2004).
Nowadays, the threatened levees have been strengthened and
raised over a total of 148 kilometres. Another 147 kilometres of