Tsunami, one year on: a summary of the implementation of the Phuket Action Plan

The Action Plan focuses on aiding the human recovery in the tourism industry in five key areas - marketing and communication, community relief, professional training of the tourism workforce, re-development and repositioning of the tourism product with greater emphasis on sustainability and risk management - a framework for assistance within which WTO would contribute to tourism recovery. The Action Plan was well received by the international tourism community, as demonstrated both by the generous donations that were pledged to facilitate the plan’s implementation, and the efforts on the part of stakeholders to align their own work programmes more closely with the Action Plan. The Phuket Action Plan recognized Marketing and Communications as the cornerstone for tourism recovery as clear, detailed and abundant information is key to recovering the confidence of the marketplace, hence it has been placed as the most important element in the plan. Effective communications is needed on many different levels: government, business, tour operators, travel agents, the media and the public. This is understandable given the role of communications in the modern world. The traditional print and visual media has been enhanced by the internet and mobile phones. The unprecedented publicity given to the tsunami by the media undoubtedly created a negative impact in the hearts and minds of people leading to prejudices, confusion and misplaced facts.