Plan for the future …
Today has been a busy day.
It began with a minor crisis – no internet. It’s at times like this that I realize how reliant we have become on the internet for our everyday operations: especially for communications and news. Anyway, having arrived in the office, as usual, at six, I was able to spend the first couple of hours catching up with some of the multitude of tasks that have been piling up on my desk.
I began with an article for a journal about Tourism in Kyrgyzstan, (based, incidentally on one of my earlier postcards), and then I turned my attention to some statistics. When I thought it was a reasonable hour I called our computer engineer to come and have a look at the system to see if he could fathom out why the internet connection wasn’t working.
I was about to return to the statistics and wait for his arrival when I got a phone call from the hotel asking if I had heard, or felt, the explosion. ”Uhhh, No – what explosion?” - but, I’ll write about that in another postcard.
When I eventually got back to my desk and checked the email – Outlook decided to crash – taking several messages with it … I managed to recover some of them, but not all.
Amongst the various messages that survived the crash was news about the “Wikileaks” posts … which included a couple of “confidential” cables from the American Ambassador here in Bishkek, one of them describing a “Brunch” with Prince Andrew back in 2008 … but I’ll write about that in another postcard.
Some of the other messages and phone calls that arrived during the course of the day, however, struck me as casting an interesting contrast when it comes to planning for the future … and dealing with our current “crisis”.
First,there were phone calls – asking if we planning to cancel out marketing plans for the next season. My response was, “No, not yet. Why should I?”
For a start, that would mean that the terrorists have “won”.
What is more, “life goes on” and, as Harold Wilson once put it, “a week is a long time in politics” – and we are considering plans for next year – and for 2012.
It might seem strange that we are still thinking of how we can “promote” Kyrgyzstan even though the country seems to be getting a fair bit of publicity at the moment. Most of it, of course, unwelcome publicity – showing the country in a negative light given the events of recent history. Those events and that publicity, however, doesn’t alter the fact that Kyrgyzstan is a spectacularly beautiful country, with an interesting historical and cultural heritage. That’s the message that we want to get across.
As one post I saw on a blog the other day put it – PR and publicity are not the same thing. Yes, it is true that we have had quite a fair amount of exposure in the media recently – but that’s not the same as “Public Relations” – or “marketing” or “promotion”.
Publicity, for example, is often a passive thing over which you have no control – it’s all in the hands of the editor who chooses what to publish and what slant to put on the story. Public Relations, on the other hand, is a positive, concerted package of measures and activities designed to convey a message.
In a way, it’s ironic that PR has, itself, suffered recently from a spate of bad publicity – especially in the form of TV sitcoms which seem to belittle and give a cynical point of view on the subject. It’s may also be true, unfortunately, that some of this negative image may well be justified – but that misses the point that the “advertising executive”, or PR manager, or even “spin doctor” is only trying to get the best possible coverage for their message.
The questionable activities of some practitioners of advertising, marketing, and PR doesn’t detract from, or alter, the fact that we all have a message that we want to get across – and that professionals in this field have amassed knowledge, skills and experience about the best ways of doing so. If they are caught out using questionable or unscrupulous methods in their campaigns, that is to be decried, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the message they present is wrong in itself.
Obviously, we are thinking that the current state of affairs, uncertainty and disruption, will not continue for ever. The situation is fluid and constantly changing. We must plan for the future, and our plans should also be fluid – we need to react to the changing situation. We might change my plans in the light of changing circumstances, but that doesn’t mean to say that we should abandon them.
If a week is a long time in politics – what about seven weeks? It’s been seven weeks, for example, since the election and we still don’t have a government … although I understand from tonight’s news that agreement on a coalition has finally been reached – so tomorrow we may have one.
A new government may mean a new beginning. Something to build upon.
Hong Kong tourism suffered terribly as a result of SARS, Swine Flu and Bird Flu, but each time has managed to bounce back. The Gulf coast of America was devastated by Hurricane Catrina, but within months, if not weeks, properties were being rebuilt and people were returning – perhaps not in the same numbers as before, but recovery was not achieved by sitting back and doing nothing. The same is true for Thailand which has suffered both natural and man-made “disasters”, (such as the Tsunami and Civil Disorder), but tourists are still to be seen walking through the temples and lying on the beaches.
Yes, we have had to cope this year with a revolution, riots and mayhem, death and destruction – and now a terrorist bomb – but I am convinced that the “bad news” will not go on forever.
Indeed, as far as I am concerned, now is the time to start thinking of, and planning for, the future.
I was particularly pleased, therefore, to see a message from the Kyrgyz Community Based Tourism Association, (KCBTA), outlining a programme of festivals that they are organizing for next year – I’ll write about those in another postcard, as well. It might seem strange to think of planning tourist attractions for next year – when there may be precious few, if any, tourists, but the festivals are popular with locals as well as with tourists and offer a chance for the people to celebrate their heritage, come what may.
Someone is thinking of, and planning for, the future … “Malodetz!” – “Well Done!”. I take my hat off to you. I wish that there were more people prepared to do the same.
Bishkek