The Council of Australian Tour Operators inaugural Crisis Management Forum held in Sydney last month included a fascinating panel discussion with some CATO members about their real life crisis experiences. The panel included Wildlife Safari md Trevor Fernandes, who was in Kenya during several events including post-election violence in 2007 and the Westgate Plaza shootings in 2013.
Key take-outs included the importance of having a crisis management plan and clearly defined roles for key personnel; the importance of having a senior member of the operations team on the ground as soon as possible after an incident; and the importance of relying on contacts on the ground rather than just sensationalised media reports.
Pictured above after some of the morning sessions are, from left: David Beirman of UTS; Rose Romeo from the Qantas Group Business Resilience department; CATO chairman Dennis Bunnik; and Kirsty McNeill, DFAT’s director of crisis management and contingency planning.
