How VisitScotland prepared for a flu pandemic

Abstract

This paper examines one of the key risks facing businesses and emergency planners today: the likely impact of a flu pandemic on business activities. The paper uses the example of a large tourism organisation — VisitScotland, the national tourism organisation for Scotland, with over 1,000 employees — and explains how it has planned and prepared for such a pandemic. The paper reports the research methods used by the authors in this planning process, including scenario planning, economic forecasting and in-house workshops to scope the range of issues to address in preparing a contingency plan for a flu pandemic.