Lori Pennington-Gray, Ph.D.
Director and Endowed Chair
SmartState Tourism Center
College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management
University of South Carolina
The Tourism Area Response Network (TARN) is a co-management approach to fostering closer partnerships in tourism crisis management and communication. It is a specific set of linkages among a defined group of persons within the tourism industry who work closely together for the common goal of safeguarding tourists, providing accurate and timely information, and supporting a quick crisis recovery.
TARN Workshop brings together both the tourism industry’s private sector and public sector members. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) representing the tourism sector are especially well suited to attend this workshop as well as organizations that host tourists.
The tourism-related products and services range includes restaurants, accommodations, attractions, transportation, etc. Participants in the one-day
TARN workshop will gain valuable knowledge and understanding to aid in the creation of a workable tourism crisis management plan that will ensure small businesses are ready for and thinking about evacuation routes, communication techniques, availability of technology to receive warnings, etc.
The desired outcome of the TARN Workshop is to increase dialogue between public and private sectors to foster more robust democratic processes and develop responses.
SmartState Tourism continually monitors global crises that affect the tourism industry, while also monitoring and identifying best practices in crisis management and communication worldwide. These findings are integrated into the SmartState TCMP Workshops to provide relevant best practices that are specific to the tourism industry. Furthermore, we have partnerships with industry leaders and academics who are experts in tourism crisis management. Thus, we have relationships with practitioners and scholars across the globe who can share their experiences in planning for and managing past crises that have affected the tourism industry. SmartState Tourism offers both specialized regional and international workshops.
Two four-hour seminar classes:
Materials to be Provided by SmartState:
We recommend the following materials are available to make the workshop successful:
Director and Endowed Chair
SmartState Tourism Center
College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management
University of South Carolina