The Kenya Tourism Federation deserves a great deal of credit for quickly issuing a statement in response to the outbreak of post-election violence in Kenya. The KTF's call for a peaceful resolution of political issues for the sake of the national economy is unarguable. The statement's overall assessment of the safety of tourism attractions and the overall security of major tourism attractions in Kenya reflects the current status in what is a very fluid and unpredictable environment.

The KTF statement for all its merits is not the most effective way to manage Kenya's current tourism crisis. It does not address the rash of negative government travel advisories issued by most of Kenya's key source markets or the decision taken by the British Federation of Travel Operators to suspend package tours (albeit on a day-by-day basis) to Kenya. The statement as it stands is not an effective response to the intense and overwhelmingly negative global media coverage of Kenya. A location such as Amboseli National Park (near Mt Kilimanjaro) may be calm but tourists or prospective tourists need to know if it is possible to travel from there to other parts of Kenya or more importantly to the international airports in Nairobi and Mombassa to exit the country .

The key to managing a rapidly changing crisis situation is to ensure there are accurate and reliable real-time updates on the situation as it affects tourism. In September 2007 Tourism California showed the way by regularly updating tourists and all its stakeholders during the Southern California fires.

Statements made by KTF claiming that tourist destinations are secure are meaningless without specificity, especially in Kenya's situation where some parts of the capital Nairobi are aflame and other districts are unaffected.

During the height of the Intifada in Israel 2001-03, the website of the Israel Ministry of Tourism posted regular updates on places which were open or closed. A phone hot line was available for tourists. Visit Britain (the British Tourism Authority in 2001) adopted a similar approach to Britain's Foot and Mouth outbreak and Tourism California successfully managed the recent forest fire crisis with a similar strategy.

In the short-term such openness and honesty may not necessarily benefit parts of destination Kenya and may even result in a temporary drop in tourism. However, in the longer term honesty insures that the tourism authority is regarded as a provider of credible and trustworthy information which builds far more confidence in travellers and stakeholders than morale-boosting statements.

(eTN) - A major airline is to fit some of its planes with anti-missile technology, it emerged yesterday.

Up to three American Airlines jets will be equipped with the laser systems this spring in the latest trials to protect commercial planes from attack.

The first Boeing 767-200 will get the technology in April.

The tests will determine how well it holds up under the rigours of flight. But the firm said passengers would not be on board the aircraft during tests.

Research on the system has been approved by the US Cong-ress partly out of fear that terrorists armed with shoulder-fired weapons could hit jetliners as they take off and land.