Correspondence: Eli Avraham, University of North Texas, Jewish Studies Program, P.O. Box 305369, Denton, TX 76203-5369, USA. Tel:+940 369 8933; Fax: +940 369 8163; e-mail: evraham@com.haifa.ac.il www.marketingincrisis.com

¹(PhD, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1998) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Israel. He has published numerous articles on place marketing/image and is the author of several award-winning books.

²is a marketing consultant and graduate student in the Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Israel. In recent years he has accumulated vast practical experience in strategic consulting and in the promotion and marketing of cities and organizations in Israel.

Received 30 May 2008; Revised 30 May 2008.

Abstract

Many countries, cities and tourist destinations are considered risky or unsafe due to terror attacks, natural disasters, epidemics, crime waves, wars, coups, racial conflicts, social-economic disorders or political unrest. The association of places with danger or bloodshed is a serious obstacle to their attractiveness and is likely to have a negative affect on tourism and investments. The goal of this article is to present three groups of media strategies adopted by places all over the world in order to be perceived as safe: source-focused strategies, message-focused strategies and audience-focused strategies. This paper is based on a variety of qualitative research methods and is the result of careful analysis of dozens of case studies, advertisements, public relations campaigns, press releases, academic articles, news articles, and websites of cities, countries and tourist destinations that were widely considered as unsafe as the result of sudden or ongoing crises.