When I lived in London in the early 90’s the IRA were still active in the UK.  I clearly remember the first time I experienced a security scare at a Tube station – we were evacuated due to a suspicious package.  My heart raced, I was sure it was a bomb.  It wasn’t.

After several months I soon realised that every time some fool left anything unattended it became a security scare.  My heart stopped racing but one legacy that remains from those days is to be alert to things around you….to look out for unattended packages or anything else unusual.

For many years I haven’t thought much about this until recently I attended a Tourism & Terrorism seminar at the World Travel Market in London.  It was presented by the UK’s Foreign Office and Counter Terrorism Taskforce.  It covered various threats and how the tourism industry can help to minimise the risks of terrorism.  It also covered the response processes the UK Government has in place to deal with terrorist attacks involving British citizens.  The recent Tunisian atrocity was used as an example.

In tourism we tend to focus on the good elements rather than the darker ones. It was therefore reassuring to know that there is a lot happening behind the scenes and that there are things that the tourism industry can do to help prevent or minimise the chances of an attack.

However it was an answer that was provided during the question time that really struck a chord with me.  The question was along the lines of ‘as a tour operator and an industry we don’t really talk about terrorism and safety as we don’t want it to distract away from the joy of booking and going on a holiday.  How do we change this?’

The answer came from one of the senior counter terrorism police officers.  In short he said that 30 years ago nobody really talked about occupational health and safety.  Now it’s a normal part of business life.  Terrorism and client safety should be the same.

Internally within our organisations we need to have the terrorism and security conversations, just like we all have OH&S conversations.  Identify the risks and put systems and procedures in place to minimise them.

The thing with OH&S is that the responsibility is shared – between the employer and the employee, the tour company and the traveller.  Whilst the company must have safe systems in place we each have a responsibility for our own safety and to use common sense.

This is the way it should be with terrorism and security issues too.  It certainly was in London in the early 90’s, even if seeing a suspicious package meant travel frustration for you and your fellow passengers.

Traveller safety needs to be discussed openly – both within tourism organisations and with customers.  By raising awareness and encouraging good common sense regarding security we share the responsibility and in the process reduce the level of fear.

The key here is reducing fear.  The fear of terrorism, like that of flying and shark attacks, is high and in many cases completely out of proportion with the actual risk.  In other words the perceived risk is far higher than the actual risk.  In terms of traveller safety the far greater risks to Australian travellers are traffic accidents, robbery and self-induced alcohol related injuries.

By openly discussing traveller safety and security – which includes terrorism but also road safety, robbery and alcohol, we can help ease their concerns, bring some balance to this topic of terrorism and at the same time keep our passengers safe.

CATO will be holding a Crisis Management Forum in Sydney in March 2016.  Details to be released soon.