Sally Branson, founder and managing director of the Sally Branson Consulting Group, gives expert insight into ongoing PR crises and the lessons adland can learn.
There's a particular kind of crisis that creeps up on a nation's reputation, one that doesn't announce itself with a single catastrophic event, but accumulates through a series of tragic incidents that shift perception incident by incident.
Australia is experiencing this right now with a surge of shark attacks and a tourist death involving dingos.
Recent shark attacks resulting in terrible, tragic deaths and serious injuries, not in remote ocean wilderness but close to shore, combined with the tragic dingo associated death of a young Canadian backpacker, have introduced an uncomfortable narrative into Australia's tourism story. Not just internationally, but domestically too.
This weekend's Australian Financial Review reported James Goodwin from the Australian Hotels Association noting a surge in poolside bookings over the Australia Day long weekend.
This is tourists literally backing away from the beach.
What begins with affectionate jokes about drop bears and venomous everything eventually becomes an economic threat when fatalities enter the frame.
And this doesn't just impact international visitor numbers. It threatens the fundamental fabric of Australian summer life: beaches as safe spaces to socialise, exercise, and offer children screen-free experiences.
The Slow-Burn Crisis Defined
Here's what surprises people: despite the dramatic, often fatal nature of these events, this is classified as a slow-burn crisis.
Unlike an acute crisis demanding immediate firefighting, slow-burn crises erode reputation incrementally. The controllable element here is messaging, how we communicate, who delivers it, and what actions we demonstrate.
This is where reputation work matters. And dare I say it, it should be done well in advance.
The brands, destinations, and organisations that weather slow-burn crises are those that built trust and educated stakeholders before tragedy struck.
Pre-Emptive Stakeholder Mapping
Preparation separates those who manage crises from those consumed by them. The work should already be done:
- Who are your tourism boards, hotel chains, and booking partners?
- Which influencers regularly swim, surf, or camp in Australian coastal areas?
- What bloggers review beach stays and coastal experiences?
- Is there dormant advertising budget that can be activated for safety-focused campaigns?
These relationships need to be mapped and maintained continuously, not scrambled together when headlines hit international media.
Your stakeholder network becomes your megaphone for facts over fear.
Partnership Work That Carries Weight
I live on the Gold Coast and swim in the ocean in the mornings with two girlfriends.
We've developed intuitive safety protocols: we swim when the sun is up, we assess which section of beach looks safest that day, and critically, we position ourselves near a group of seasoned surfers and swimmers.
Local knowledge is powerful. But tourists don't have it.
The fact that people still swim at dawn or dusk, the exact windows when risk escalates, baffles me every time.
Clear, non-negotiable calls to avoid these periods must be amplified.
This is where surf lifesaving clubs hold particular sway. These trusted community institutions must drive swim safety messaging harder than ever. Booking platforms and tourism operators need to promote informed decisions through facts, not deflection.
Local partnerships carry the weight that generic safety warnings cannot. And this comes back to knowing what your message is and who is best to deliver it.
Concrete Actions Demand Clear Communication
Local councils have responded: drone surveillance, expanded lifeguard patrols, dingo culls on sites like K'gari. Whether you agree with every measure is beside the point, these actions have been taken, and they demand straightforward communication.
Stakeholders, from parents weighing beach days for their children to backpackers plotting van itineraries to hotel operators safeguarding occupancy rates, need evidence of diligence.
Locals absorb these protocols through lived experience. Tourists need concise reinforcement delivered through trusted voices.
How to Actually Communicate When Your Livelihood Depends on Tourism
If your livelihood relies on tourism and that includes airlines, hotels, tourism associations, regional operators, you need to be looking at how you can best communicate the good story of Australian travel and tourism.
Not just the negatives, but don't hide from them either.
The approach should be direct and helpful: "If you're worried about sharks, if you're worried about dingos, this is what you need to know."
This isn't about burying bad news under forced optimism. It's about providing context, facts, and practical guidance alongside the compelling reasons people want to visit Australia in the first place. Show them the 99.9% of beach experiences that are glorious and safe.
Then give them the straightforward information they need to make informed decisions about the 0.1% of risk.
Airlines can include safety tips in pre-arrival content. Hotels can provide clear, calm briefings at check-in.
Tourism Australia and state bodies can create dedicated safety resource pages that rank highly in search results when people google "Australia shark safety" or "safe swimming Australia."
The message isn't "don't worry about it." The message is "here's what we're doing, here's what you should do, and here's why Australia is still extraordinary."
What Stakeholders Actually Need
Fundamentally, stakeholder confidence rests on two pillars: reliable facts and visible effort.
In any crisis, regardless of nature, people need to feel safe and comforted. They need to believe you're doing everything possible to protect them.
This means maintaining stakeholder proximity, delivering crisp updates, and demonstrating resolve.
The reputation buffer you've built, through consistent communication, transparent action, and demonstrated care, determines whether stakeholders give you the benefit of the doubt or abandon ship at the first sign of trouble.
The Economic Reality
Australia's beach culture isn't just about aesthetics or lifestyle. It's an economic driver. Coastal tourism supports thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs.
Surf clubs anchor communities. Summer rituals shape family memories and social bonds.
When perception shifts from "easy-going beach paradise" to "perceived risk zone," the economic contraction follows.
Not immediately, not catastrophically, but steadily. Pool bookings over beach stays. Domestic destinations over coastal escapes. Hesitation at the booking confirmation screen.
This is the slow burn in action.
The Controllable Element
What we control in uncontrollable circumstances is our response. Not nature, not random wildlife behaviour, not every individual's decision to swim at dusk despite warnings. But we control:
- How quickly we activate stakeholder networks
- How clearly we communicate safety measures
- How consistently we demonstrate commitment to visitor wellbeing
- How transparently we share what's being done
The buffer endures when we maintain proximity to stakeholders, deliver facts without deflection, and show, not just tell, that we're taking every reasonable measure.
Neglect that foundation and the slow burn becomes an inferno.
Australia's reputation as a laid-back beach culture didn't develop overnight, and it won't disappear in a single news cycle.
But reputations, like coastlines, are shaped by persistent forces. The question is whether we're actively managing the tide or simply watching it erode the shore.