On Tour
❖ marty sarbey de souto, ctc
Tour Planners Need to Be Prepared for Emergencies ONE FRIDAY AFTERNOON a couple of weeks ago I fell and broke my shoulder and arm. I had blithely parked my car at the shopping center and walked across the parking lot toward Trader Joe’s, where I tripped and fell “splat” on my face on the cement, my arm curled under me to break the fall. The ambulance ride with sirens blazing, the emergency room crew, the whole drama – I look back on it now with amazement. Then, as I lay there doped up on vicodin, I started thinking, “What if this had happened to me while escorting a tour? Or, what if it had happened to one of my tour members while on my watch? How would I have handled it? And although I have written on this subject a number of times before, I think it’s worth our taking a second look to be sure we’re prepared for such an eventuality as it really can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. Much of the preparation for an unsettling event like this goes back to the trip-planning stage – back to when we first set up the trip, selected the operator and costed the program. Did we pick a truly reputable tour operator with the years of experience behind them and a protocol for handling such emergencies? Or did we think we could do it ourselves and save some money or perhaps select a less-experienced operator? Did we review their company emergency protocol with them? Did we consider that we should, perhaps, cost something into the budget if we were to suddenly have to hire a pro14 December 2011
fessional paid tour manager to take over the tour escorting duties should you become incapacitated? While many colleagues may be willing to escort a tour in your stead just for the free trip, many “pros” will require a salary to pick up the tour where you left off and complete it successfully. This happened to me back in 1980 when I suddenly was told I had to have emergency surgery a couple weeks before departure and I had to locate a knowledgeable French-speaking tour leader to take my annual ladies’ tour to Paris.
Very rarely will you need to use this information but the once-in-a-bluemoon when you may have to, it’s worth its weight in gold. Another aspect to consider is preventative care. How can you help your participants take good care of themselves on tour? They need to watch where they’re walking; many of the most interesting towns have narrow, cracked, bumpy sidewalks, perhaps with tree roots growing up through the cracks. They may need to be reminded to eat moderately – not overstuff themselves just because it’s “free.” They need to be
Gather emergency contact and other vital information on each tour member I then have to ask myself, “Am I taking all the necessary information with me on my tour members so that if something like this happened to one of them along the way, I would be able to step in quickly and efficiently to expedite emergency handling?” In addition to the basic information I take on each member (legal name, address, phone number(s), and e-mail), do I also have an emergency contact for everyone (family member, best friend, neighbor)? In addition, do my records indicate a contact for the member’s personal physician and any necessary information on the medical insurance plan to which they may belong or membership number? It’s fairly easy to make up a standard questionnaire that you require of all tour members before departure.
traveling on a carefully crafted itinerary that does not exhaust them; there needs to be “time out” inserted here and there in the days’ activities. And all mornings do not necessarily need to start at the crack of dawn – how about a morning here and there when they can “sleep in,” enjoy a more leisurely breakfast, take their vitamins, maybe even do a few exercises? All in all, we cannot avoid all emergencies. But we can do ourselves and our tour members a favor by being as prepared as possible “just in case.”
Marty is a Certified Travel Counselor who designs and leads tours. Her travel industry consulting and educational firm is Sarbey Associates (sarbeyassociates.com).
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