VISIT FLORIDA Official Media Newsroom

Crisis Communications Plan

VISIT FLORIDA CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN OVERVIEW
Many kinds of situations have the potential to negatively impact the perception of Florida as a desirable vacation destination as well as impede travel to and within the state. When these occur, VISIT FLORIDA can help mitigate these situations through a coordinated involvement with the media, the Florida tourism industry and governmental agencies. The details of such involvement form the basis of the Crisis Management Plan.

What constitutes a crisis?

Crises are either natural or of human origin and can be broken down into two general categories:
A) Incident-based crises with no advanced warning. Examples of these would include:

A sharp rise in violent crimes, or a particularly heinous crime or string of crimes, especially against visitors to Florida.
Terrorist activities, whether domestic or international in origin, such as bombings and release of chemical or biological agents.
Outbreak of a communicable, dangerous disease.
Nuclear incident, including accidents/terrorist incidents at nuclear plants in Florida, or in Cuba.
Animal attacks, such as those involving sharks and alligators.
Major oil spill.
Red tide.
Tornadoes or other sudden and severe weather affecting major tourist destinations.
An incident that disrupts a major tourist traffic route into Florida for an extended period of time.

B) Developing crisis in which warning signs may be present. Examples include:

Hurricanes.
Civil unrest.
Political/religious boycotts.
Unusual or uncharacteristically severe weather patterns (extensive drought leading to increase in wildfires, etc.)
State legislation/local ordinances perceived as being "visitor unfriendly", including special taxes, fees impacting tourists, weapons laws, etc.

How does VISIT FLORIDA learn of the crisis?

The initial notification to VISIT FLORIDA that a crisis has either erupted or is potentially developing can come from several sources, including but not limited to:

The mainstream media, whether through print/broadcast coverage or reporter inquiry.
State/local emergency response officials.
Governor's Office of Tourism, Trade & Economic Development (OTTED).
Members of the Florida Commission on Tourism/VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors.
VISIT FLORIDA staff, including Welcome Center and International Office personnel.
Reports from VISIT FLORIDA Partners, especially CVBs/TDCs, or other segments of the Florida tourism industry.

Any real or potential crisis situation is immediately made known to the director of communications (or delegated backup) who then consults with the chief executive officer in order to determine the appropriate level of response for VISIT FLORIDA. The major question at this point is:

How serious is the situation?

There are actually two variables that will determine the severity of any given situation. The first and more objective of the two is the nature of the situation itself. A major hurricane that results in widespread property damage and loss of life is an obvious example of an intrinsically serious situation and one to which VISIT FLORIDA would automatically respond at a high level. However, there are also far less serious situations that can, for whatever reason, generate an inordinate amount of media coverage. The extent and nature of that coverage is also a factor in determining VISIT FLORIDA's level of response.

How does VISIT FLORIDA respond?

Every crisis is different. Each will have unique or unexpected circumstances that will require variations to (and possibly deviations from) even the most exhaustively detailed crisis management plan. Therefore, VISIT FLORIDA's response to any given crisis situation, while following general guidelines, will also be flexible enough to accommodate changing or unforeseen conditions. However, in the event the communications director and CEO deem a given situation to be actually or potentially serious, the CEO can activate VISIT FLORIDA's Crisis Response Team (CRT). The names of the team members and how to reach them are printed on a card carried by all VISIT FLORIDA staff.

MAJOR CRISIS RESPONSE

Activation of the CRT consists of notifying the team members and arranging for an immediate meeting of as many as can be reached, or their designated backup staff. Depending on circumstances, the meeting may be done face-to-face, via conference call or a combination of the two. The nature and the extent of the crisis, along with its current and/or potential impact on tourism, is discussed and input actively solicited from particularly impacted segments of the tourism industry. Team members are assigned to various response functions based on their departments' functions and their individual areas of expertise.

In addition, the CRT will be responsible for the planning and implementation of VISIT FLORIDA's situation-specific communications strategy. A location will be chosen for the Communication Command Center. In most instances, this will be VISIT FLORIDA's Tallahassee headquarters. If, however, that location is not functional because it has been impacted by the crisis, the team will operate from a remote location, determined and provisioned in advance. The fact that corporate functions have been relocated to that remote location will be communicated to other VISIT FLORIDA staff (including all external personnel), VF Board, OTTED, VF's advertising agency and PR firms, key Partners, the media, state/local officials and others involved with the crisis as deemed appropriate by the CRT. The remote location will be equipped with telephones, fax machines, PCs, media contact lists and other necessary supplies.

Once situated, the CRT will determine:

Key messages concerning the crisis, including official statements to be sent to all Partners for inclusion in their releases.
The audience for those messages, such as visitors already in Florida, visitors about to come to Florida, tour operators/travel agents, tourism-related businesses, etc).
The appropriate media for conveying those messages.
Who will serve as VISIT FLORIDA's primary and backup spokespeople?
What assistance (including use of VISIT FLORIDA's facilities & personnel) can be offered to emergency officials, CVBs/TDCs, etc.

In addition to the media, crisis information will be provided to external VISIT FLORIDA staff, the company's advertising and PR firms and other constituencies the CRT identifies. Timely situational summaries will also be placed on the www.VISITFLORIDA.com and www.VISITFLORIDA.org web sites and official releases on the media site. If necessary, a formal news conference or media briefing will be arranged. As the crisis continues, the CRT will carefully monitor how the media coverage evolves and respond as appropriate. All media contacts will be logged in detail, containing the name of the reporter, media outlet they represent, their telephone number and a short summary of what was discussed during the contact.

THE RECOVERY PHASE

Once the actual crisis is over and recovery efforts are underway, the CRT, in consultation with the VISIT FLORIDA Board, will determine how best to support this effort on behalf of the industry. This may include:

Periodic status reports to the media, VISIT FLORIDA staff (including field reps and international offices), advertising agency and PR firms, as various areas reopen to visitors.
Arranging for live broadcast remotes from the affected areas.
Preparing situational updates for specific media, such as the Weather Channel.
Production of video news releases.
Helping coordinate media tours of recovered areas.

The CRT will also plan to reconvene for a post-crisis meeting to evaluate the effectiveness of the communications effort.

EMERGENCY ADVERTISING

Either during or following a crisis of unusual severity, VISIT FLORIDA can tap a special contingency fund to finance paid media advertising to broaden and reinforce the distribution of key messages concerning the status of Florida's ability to accommodate visitors. However, this will be done only after it is determined that other communication avenues are inadequate for the task. A joint decision by VISIT FLORIDA's president/CEO and board chairman, along with a representative of OTTED, is required to authorize release of up to $300,000 of this fund. Approval of the entire VISIT FLORIDA board is required for larger expenditures.

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