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Risk Management & Crisis Planning

What is a Risk?

A risk is the chance of something adverse happening. Risk arises out of uncertainty. It is measured in terms of the likelihood of it happening and the consequences if it does happen.

What is Risk Management?

It is as much about identifying opportunities as it is about avoiding losses.

Why do you need to manage risks?

Ignoring the risks that apply to your business activities or the events you have planned could impact on:

the health and safety of employees, customers, volunteers and participants
your reputation, credibility and status
public and customer confidence in your organisation
your financial position; and
equipment and the environment

Adopting effective risk management techniques can help you to improve safety and business performance in your organisation.

Benefits of Risk Management

There are many benefits in implementing risk management procedures. Some of these include:

more effective strategic planning
better cost control
enhancing shareholder value by minimising losses and maximising opportunities
increased knowledge and understanding of exposure to risk
a systematic, well-informed and thorough method of decision making
minimised disruptions
better utilisation of resources
strengthening culture for continued improvement; and
creating a best practice and quality organisation

Why Risk Management is important to the tourism industry

Risk Management and Risk Assessment have become, and will remain, a vital component of the way all businesses operate within the tourism industry. Across the tourism industry, there is a multitude of opportunities for ‘risks’ to turn into ‘disasters’ or an upheaval event.

Security concerns, natural disasters such as cyclones and storms and outbreaks of infectious diseases are just a few risks which would have a tremendous impact on the tourism industry. A detailed crisis management plan will help you to prepare for and respond to the chance of an unforseen event.

Risk Management planning is particularly important in helping operators to respond and adapt to climate change. With predicted increases in storms, changes in rainfall patterns and rising temperatures, operators need to be planning how they can minimise the impacts on their business and improve their resilience.

"Fail to plan, plan to fail"

If you want to have a successful tourism business, forward thinking is critical to effectively riding out the various crises (natural disasters, economic downturns, terrorism, health pandemics) that regularly beset the industry. By developing a Business Continuity Plan you can ensure the continuation of your business during and following any critical incident that results in disruption to your normal operations.

For more information, check out the Business Continuity Planning Guide

Climate Change Impacts & Risk Management: A Guide for Business and Government

" This document is a guide to integrating climate change impacts into Risk Management and other strategic planning activities in ausrtalian public and private organisations" (2006, Commonwealth of Australia).

For more information, check out Climate Change Impacts & Risk Managemet

Local Government Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit

"This toolkit is intended to builde councils' capacity to make decisions using, rather than to generate, scientific data/projection or climate change impact models" (2008, ICLEI Ocieana).

For more information, check out Local Government Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit

The National Tourism Incident Communication Plan

The National Tourism Incident Communication Plan (NTICP) is prepared and maintained by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism.

This plan sets out the process for assessing an actual or emerging threat or incident for its potential impact on the tourism industry nationally; communicating information to the industry; and coordinating and disseminating information relating to the impacts of incidents on the tourism industry.

Click here to view the plan.


Tools: Business Continuity Planning Flyer will provide more information on planning for Risk Management. For business and organisations seeking to understand risks and develop a plan, download a copy of Tourism Risk Management: An Authoritative Guide to Managing Crisis in Tourism. In addition, Regional Tourism Organisations can download the Regional Tourism Crisis Management Plan Template to assist in crisis planning. SmartSkills Online provides a short 10 minute tutorial ‘The legal environment’ that includes risk management. A 5 Step Risk Management Process developed by the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations provides information regarding Risk Management Resources: Risk Management for Wine Tourism provides a brief summary of potential risks faced by winery operators and ways of dealing with these concerns. For further information on developing a plan visit the Queensland government’s website for Risk Management. To view the Australian standard for risk management visit Standards Australia.