|
When
the second most powerful Atlantic hurricane of the 20th Century
took deadly aim on
Honduras
, the Egret team flew in on the first commercial flight to
perform a rapid assessment, build a tourism patronage recovery
plan, and take over damage control efforts for the Ministry of
Tourism and the Honduras Institute of Tourism.
Egret then led post-Hurricane Mitch efforts to
communicate with travel media, travel partners, potential
patrons, and the industry within
Honduras
. Using words and
pictures, press releases, web sites, telephone interviews,
email, faxes, and mailed fact sheets, the team began to help
targeted audiences understand the status of
Honduras
as a destination - and the importance of renewed travel to the
economy. The team
developed highly illustrated electronic and printed post-Mitch
tourism summaries, using photographs taken in each tourism zone
by our team after the hurricane and accounts verified in the
field.
By
January, damage control was no longer a primary focus.
Efforts targeted both short term and long-range actions
to recover and build patronage to a wide spectrum of tourism
offerings in
Honduras
. While patronage
dropped to virtually zero immediately after Mitch, it had risen
to 70% of pre-Mitch levels on the
Bay
Islands
75 days after the storm. The
strategy to use the hurricane attention as a springboard for
expanded exposure of
Honduras
as a destination also showed early signs of success. |
