Tourism expert Ken Robinson has urged attractions bosses to review government guidelines on counter terrorism following this week’s bombing of Manchester Arena.
Robinson, said it was important that owners and managers of visitor attractions in the UK are prepared, should an incident occur. “All responsible owners will have a process for dealing with a terrorist incident,” said Robinson, speaking to
Leisure Opportunities.
“Sometimes this won't go any further than a vigilant attitude, searches of people on arrival and checking to make sure there are no unattended items around in the attraction. However, that’s really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the precautions that need to be taken.”
Robinson who was awarded a CBE in 1997 for services to tourism and is former chair of the Tourism Society, provides strategic analysis, development and management advice for tourism and visitor attractions. In 2007 he worked with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) to draft several papers on counter terrorism, to share protective security advice.
“Everybody should read the NaCTSO guide,” he said. “In times of crisis, you not only need to know this advice is available but also to have the key points in your mind.
“We generally behave as though we want normal life to continue," he said, "However, if normal life continues, you don’t do much in terms of intrusive checking. The NaCTSO guide is about how to check properly and thoroughly, and how to react effectively in the event of an incident. This is the critical thing.”
The free 72-page guide identifies visitor attractions as one of the most at-risk facility types in terms of terrorist threat, as they attract crowds, are often high profile and many are important cultural, religious or political symbols. The guide also acknowledges that there isn’t a one size fits all approach and that different attractions must make different preparations for any potential incident.
“The purpose of the guide is to enable professionals to realise the full extent of the things they need to implement if they're an owner or a manager,” continued Robinson. “Which pieces of advice are relevant to your attraction? A national park will need to act differently from a small town museum, for example. Industry people need to read it and think how the key points apply to their own space and their customers behaviour.
"After that, they need to ensure they have the guide to hand so they can act if a crisis occurs that affects them. They need to know immediately how to implement these processes.
“When you’ve got to deal with an emergency situation, what do you do? Intuition is not enough, you need to be fully aware of the advice, to know how best to respond.”
To read the full Counter Terrorism Protective Security Advice For Visitor Attractions report, click here.
