Dispelling rumours and avoiding panic

You should follow simple steps to combat fear, anxiety, rumours and misinformation surrounding COVID-19.

• The first step to combat misinformation is to only use trusted and credible information sources.

• Communicate only facts to your guests, business partners, and employees.
• Supply the information sources and to be available to explain the information which you are providing.

You should also prepare strategies for directly countering false information about COVID-19.

Identifying rumours, labelling them false, and explaining why, can prevent them from spreading and causing fear and anxiety in daily tourism operations.

When preparing your strategies, the following guidelines are mandatory:

• Report only facts to tourists, visitors, clients and employees.

• Double verify information prior to releasing it to tourists, visitors, clients and employees.

• Name the sources for all information.

• Refrain from using alarmist language.

• Allow for 2-way communication between tourists, visitors, clients or employees and management.

• Supply contact information for tourists, visitors, clients or employees to contact authorities or medical professionals for further advice or clarification.