A headline just this morning from CNN read, “After deaths, more tourists to Dominican Republic say they were stricken with illness.”
This story focused on “more than a dozen” people who contacted Kaylynn Knull and Tom Schwander, the young and seemingly fit Colorado couple, who filed a lawsuit against the owners of Grand Bahia Principe Hotel La Romana, blaming them for causing their illness dating back to a stay in June 2018. After returning home, their doctor diagnosed them with poisoning from Organophosphates, which can be found in insecticides.
CNN says it contacted most of the people who contacted the couple and found “experiences ranged from what they felt was most likely food poisoning or a virus to what seemed to be dire reactions to chemical contaminants.”
Most of the headlines have focused on the only real commonality of the deaths, that they took place either during or after visiting the popular Caribbean destination.
The government says there were 6.5 million tourists in 2018 representing 20% of all travel to the area. In other words, the deaths and illnesses are seemingly small numbers out of a big number.
Recently, some of the coverage has been moderating. On Friday, The Washington Post reported, “At this point, there’s no evidence that the spate of death and illness in the Dominican Republic this year is out of the ordinary for any popular tourist destination, according to the U.S. State Department, which said it has seen no unusual spike in deaths reported from the country.”
Last week, a headline on the NBC News website read, “The Dominican Republic hasn't suddenly become more dangerous.” It quoted a U.S. State Department official as saying, “We have not seen an uptick in the number of U.S. citizen deaths reported to the department.”
The NBC report noted, “Compared with the seven Americans who have died so far this year, 15 died through June in both 2011 and 2015 of causes like auto accidents, suicides, homicides and drownings. In 2009, 14 Americans died through June. In 2016, the number was 13.”
Commentators are also noting now folks on vacations are more likely to do new things or drink more than normal, exert themselves trying different activities, and people also just get sick, even at home.
The Center for Disease Control notes
norovirus is the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea from inflammation of the stomach and intestines among people of all ages in the United States. Its statistics show each year, on average norovirus generates 19 to 21 million cases of acute gastroenteritis leading to 1.7 to 1.9 million outpatient visits and 400,000 emergency department visits.
Ongoing warnings about travel to the Dominican Republic recommend not drinking tap water while traveling in a small metal tube with 150 other people, some of whom probably have colds, it’s easy to both pick up some minor affliction and equally easy to imagine when you do the worst case, which is what makes this crisis a bit different.
So far, the government has taken a somewhat combative approach, positioning the country as a victim and seemingly blaming the media, or at least insinuating that the troubles are being blown out proportion, which may, in fact, may be the case.
The American Society of Travel Advisors last week said 60% of its members had canceled trips planned for clients. A Houston travel agent said she had at least a dozen clients
switch from the DR to other destinations. An Atlanta-based agent said
70% of her clients who had plans for the island have canceled.
If that trend continues, it will trickle down to those employed in the tourism sector if they are laid off or have their hours reduced due to lower visitor counts. Statistics show in
2017 tourism accounted for 7.9% of GDP and was on track to generate over $7.2 billion in revenues by 2020.
Francisco Javier Garcia, the Tourism Minister, dressed like a banker in dark suit, white shirt and tie, held a press conference on June 21. According to a translation by The Washington Post, he told reporters, “A cause of death has been determined for all of the deaths that have occurred. Therefore, mystery deaths do not exist in the Dominican Republic.”
It came across as a bit of keep moving, nothing to see here, and the translated version certainly made the message sterile, even if that wasn't the intention.
But what will it take the restore visitor confidence?
I asked some leading industry PR and marketing executives for their thoughts.
Mathew Evins, chairman of Evins, a specialist in luxury and travel communications, said the recent shooting of former baseball star David Ortiz heightened negative attention about the destination.
“They have a lot of things coming together at the same time, and it’s natural that consumer confidence is going to get hit,” he said.
Evins recommends that the creation of a local hotline and app manned by the tourist board for visitors who have any problems. “When you are in a foreign country and something happens, it’s stressful. Visitors should know if the hotel isn’t being helpful, they have somebody they can turn to quickly.”
He says the tourism board needs become the advocate of the tourist. “They need to show they are going to be responsive,” he said, also suggesting the government could partner with an insurance company to create travel experience insurance. “Anyone who is a victim of illness or crime is going to incur extra expenses,” he said.
The tourist board, Evins said, needs to monitor and respond to social media. “If anyone posts they are in the DR and having an issue or just came back and had a negative experience, they need to proactively reach out to those people and find out what happened.”
Lastly, he believes the government needs to make sure travel agents and wholesalers, as well as consumers, have facts. “People get sick at home. Things happen. They need to make sure they are getting information out there.”
Alice Marshall, a former hotel executive who now runs a public relations firm under her name specializing in travel said government officials need to be transparent with facts, providing more details surrounding causes of death so they can more effectively pushback on “mystery illness” headlines.
She says the tourism ministry needs to immediately amend the homepage of its Go Dominican Republic website informing of the facts, including what has been done so far and also providing contact numbers for users who have questions or want to report something.
While it looks like only a few if any deaths are connected, she says if any of the deaths were caused by possible negligence or foul play, the government needs to “be honest and forthcoming” and discuss what steps they are taking to ensure it won’t happen in the future. Some reports say at least one hotel has removed or replaced alcohol from mini bars in response.
Although the tourism minister held a press conference on the island last week, Marshall thinks he and other government officials should come to key markets such as New York to meet with as many in the media as possible and help demonstrate transparency.
Peter Bates, a former senior executive with Cunard, Mandarin Oriental and other travel suppliers, and now CEO of consultancy Strategic Vision, says, “Recovery from any such incident requires the principal to be proactive and transparent from day one.”
He says, “As we know all too well, the tourism industry is susceptible to crises. Just in the last few months, we’ve had incidents on cruise ships, riverboats, airlines and destinations. Some of these may not be national incidents and can be more localized in their nature, but whichever way you look at it, crisis management and communications are paramount.”
In the case of the Dominican Republic, he says, in the first phase, “They need to provide correct and consistent information to the media using all media platforms. We live in an era when social media means any story is fast moving, immediate and has the capacity to go viral.”
He adds, “Both the destination and hotel or resort have to be straight forward with the media and have clear helpful statements on their websites. Any consumer today will do their own research and the first place they will go is the destination website and then to the resort's site. The consistency of messaging is crucial.”
In terms of using statistics to mitigate the crisis, he says, “While I have seen comments in the media from the Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism spokespeople on how the actual number of deaths are down this year, this comment doesn’t actually address the issue or concerns, and they must get ahead of the issue,” adding, “It is no good being in denial.”
Phase two, he says, is rebuilding the reputation of both hotel and resort companies concerned and the destination, something that may take a year or more and needs to address the consumer, tour operator community and travel advisors.
Bates says, “No travel advisor will ever put a client at risk, so if they are not certain of a destination they will choose another. Similarly, if an advisor has doubts about a hotel or resort they will choose another property.”
He recommends an integrated strategy of regular media briefings, influencer visits, a paid digital and print campaign and for the trade detailed briefings carried out in key cities and through a series of webinars.
Clayton Reid, CEO of Kansas City-based MMGY, a fully integrated marketing solutions provider for travel, tourism and hospitality companies, says in this case promotional gimmicks are not the answers. “We believe rate or experience guarantees in the face of serious health or security issues do not effectively change behavior. They do work for less dramatic situations and can be long-term tailwinds.”
He noted, in the case of terrorist attacks and health-related crises, such as London attacks, Zika or West Nile, “We have seen short-term book-around behavior, but with only a few exceptions, most destinations recover quickly.”
MMGY research shows 24% of consumers who take vacations follow celebrity influencers, so perhaps the Dominican Republic needs to enlist some star power visits to the island to help change the narrative.
Still, Reid says, “The lack of definition around what is going on in the DR makes it hard for anyone to provide a positive point-of-view or explanation. The lack of clarity is the most damaging element here.”
He adds, “It is never too early for industry and government to engage trade, media and consumers, but there must be a coherent and consistent narrative.”
I traveled to Egypt one year after the revolution and from the balcony of my hotel looking out on Tahrir Square in Cairo, the center of protests I witnessed a mainly empty space dotted by various vendors. The cable news networks were, of course, blasting images from demonstrations held over a year before.
When I posted where I was on Facebook, I received all sorts of "stay safe" messages, even though I was probably safer than in my then New York City apartment.
So far as I’ve watched the crisis unfold in the DR from my living room couch, mainly via news on my TV and various online sources, whatever the government there has been doing hasn't seemed to be very effective.
Perhaps the Minister of Tourism and other top government officials should stay in the hotels that have been affected partaking in the various activities alongside other guests, a live demonstration that they are happy to let their own children run around the resort.
As Reid mentions, typically travel crises blow over when something else takes their place in the news cycle.
In this case, I believe the Dominican Republic may face a more difficult challenge in that every day, people get sick and pass away for a variety of benevolent reasons, so unlike a tsunami, hurricane or terrorist attack, where time is a healer, anything that happens in the DR is an opportunity to reignite the PR fire.
A report by Fox News said the Tourism Minister claims, “Americans are not canceling their vacations.”
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council about one in 10 people globally earn their living from travel and tourism, and it places like the Dominican Republic the percentage can be much higher.
The DR government said it has hired Rubenstein Public Relations to help it navigate through the crisis. It will be interesting to see what they do. If perchance any of the deaths were related to some nefarious or even accidental actions by a third party, it will also show how something that might have been easily contained can quickly snowball.
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