Does media hype affect tourism?
By Darren Cronian on Sunday, August 29th, 2010

There’s an interesting article on various news sites about the increase in deaths of foreign holidaymakers on the island of Phuket. Apparently, so far this year 52 tourists have died on the island, compared with 28 during the whole of 2009.

Does media hype affect tourism?

An example of lazy journalism

It’s the type of news that sells newspapers and attracts readers, but none of the articles go into any detail about the type of deaths on tourists, and they do not compare these deaths against the thousands of tourists who visit Phuket every year.

British tourists needing assistance

The Foreign, Commonwealth Office (FCO) highlights that between April 2009 and March 2010 most consular assistance was needed by Britons in Thailand (957 cases), higher than Cyprus, and many other popular destinations by British travellers.

Phuket travel advice

Stuart McDonald, of Travelfish gives this travel advice.

“I’m not trying to downplay this, but I think the same advice goes as for anywhere. Stay in control. If a life saver tells you to get out of the water because the sea is dangerous, and then do so (a recent drowning occurred after the woman ignored the advice of a life saver that the waters were dangerous).

Don’t take “new friends” back to your room at night. Don’t drive drunk or high. Be wary of strangers offering you deals that are too good to be true — they’re not true! Use your common sense and don’t forget to pack your brain.”

Media hype and tourism

Late last year I wrote a post about pickpocketing and mentioned that Barcelona was the worst place for it. I received a lot of criticism because I wasn’t painting a nice picture on the city, but, this is a blog, if it was the BBC or a national newspaper writing negative articles, would it affect tourism figures.

Your thoughts and opinions

Have you been to Phuket, and did you feel safe there? Do you think negative press affects tourism? Can you think of other examples where negative media attention has a direct effect on a tourist destination? I am interested to read your comments.


Related posts

Please enter your email address to receive my free newsletter

 



14 responses to “Does media hype affect tourism?”

James Craven | 29 August, 2010 at 3:48 am

DC:

Never been to Phuket…
The media question seems rhetorical. Miami tourism has been buffeted more by media than all the many hurricanes that have passed through the region. Of course that’s not just the fault of the media but also the fault of an inexperienced audience…

@CravenTravels

Report this comment

Darren Cronian | 29 August, 2010 at 4:01 am

@ James

Good example – I like asking questions ;)

I thought of another example which I should have included in the post. The island of Ibiza received a lot of negative press in the 90′s for it’s clubbing/drug/drink which I think put a lot of people off from going. The party part of the island that was in the media (san antonio) is just a small place on the island. I have to admit I was one of those people who were put off going by what I read in the newspapers and on TV.

Report this comment

Dominic | 29 August, 2010 at 10:49 am

I think the media should take much more care about what they report. What they need to realise that this type of news has a direct impact on businesses.

Report this comment

Darren Cronian | 29 August, 2010 at 12:23 pm

@ Dominic

Good point made. To be honest though, if it sells papers and gets readers then there’s not a great deal of thought for the people that the story might affect. I shouldn’t be too hard on the media because I have written my fair share of posts that have been headlined to attract readers and discussion.

Report this comment

Barbara Weibel | 29 August, 2010 at 3:34 pm

Let’s face it – media is a business these days. They concentrate on what sells papers and generates numbers, not unlike many blogs these days, that feature SEO lists to generate traffic, despite the fact that they may have no basis of knowledge in the subject about which they are writing. (I have been asked to write SEO posts about travel – top ten this, best of that – for places I’ve never visited!). In the struggle for numbers, the mainstream media focuses on the most negative information. I just returned from a Gulf Shores, Alabama press trip. This community has ben devastated by the oil spill – not only because it hurt their fishing grounds, but also because of the media’s negative reporting of the situation. In a tourist destination that should have been loaded with visitors, you could have shot a canon down the main street. o, it’s a double whammy for these communities.No fishing and no tourism. Yet the water is pure turquoise and the beaches are pure white sand. Yes, the occasional tar ball still floats up at night and deposits on the beach, and they clean them up right away, but you don’t see any reporting on any of this. Instead, some of the news channels continue to run a few loops of sensational video featuring reporters on a boat scooping a handful of oil goop out of sea grass in the Gulf, all of which has been cleaned up.

Report this comment

Kevin May | 29 August, 2010 at 7:14 pm

I would also look at the advertising spend by a tourist board/DMO. That has a huge impact…

Report this comment

Eric Hoffman | 29 August, 2010 at 7:34 pm

Interesting topic Darren and certainly one that has received a lot of attention here in the US with the Gulf Oil Spill coverage and how that has impacted tourism in the Gulf of Mexico region. Now, I imagine that there can be some debate about whether it was the tail wagging the dog in some of that, I do know that there were plenty of areas that were not impacted by the oil spill at all, but did have significant downturns in business due to the fact that the perception was they had been impacted. I don’t see that there’s an easy solution, but it’s certainly something that should be able to be responded to with more speed and effectiveness via digital channels, in my opinion.

Report this comment

Linda Thompkins | 29 August, 2010 at 10:08 pm

There’s a big difference in “over hyping” a situation vs. being objective. If you’re an insider in the travel business or travel journalists, you must always be aware of the perception you are giving readers. I always try to stick to the facts, and leave emotion and sensationalism out. During the Caribbean hurricane season potential visitors need to be aware of which islands are being affected, and be given up to date info.

Dengue fever is another issue currently in the news, and while travelers need to be informed, how this is reported can cause a negative view of a particular destination.
In answering your question – the answer is definitely YES!

Report this comment

Darren Cronian | 29 August, 2010 at 11:21 pm

Great comments.

@ Barbara / Eric. Thanks for the comment. You know, as a brit, I watched all of the media coverage over here in the UK, and the media were blowing it all out of proportion. I saw one image over and over again, which was of a bird (think it was a stork?) covered in oil, but it was the same bird, same video that was shown. It did make me realise that the situation was possibly not as bad as the media were making out.

That aside, it’s obviously had a major impact on tourism there, and hopefully, it’ll not put people off visiting the Gulf coast, I know I would visit.

@ Kevin

Thanks for the comment. Care to expand? :) What tourism board, is it linked to the Thailand story, or, Gulf coast?

@ Linda

Thanks for the comment. I have yet to hear about the dengue fever but you made me think of another media hype story that put people off visiting Mexico (and probably many othe destinations) – the H1N1 flu epidemic.

Report this comment

Nick | 30 August, 2010 at 10:39 pm

Darren

I still got told by a customer last week it was not safe to travel to Bangkok due to riots. Media have effects long after the story has finished.

Report this comment

Kevin May | 30 August, 2010 at 10:51 pm

@darren – a generic comment, I’m afraid, not aimed at any single DMO/TO.

Report this comment

Andy Montgomery | 31 August, 2010 at 2:29 pm

As a travel writer living in the north of Tenerife, few islands better typify the effect of negative press on tourism…even more so than Ibiza.

There can be few Brits who haven’t caught sight of the horrors of the ‘Tenerife Uncovered’ documentaries that aired in the UK in the ’90s and have since (I believe) been re shown.

Tenerife tourism suffered immeasurably as a direct result of those documentaries and even now, a decade and multi-millions of investment later, the island is still trying to shake off that stain.

In reality Tenerife Uncovered was filmed in one small section of Playa de Las Americas, around Veronicas and Starcos, an area that represents a miniscule fraction of Tenerife, and yet the entire island has been rubbished in the eyes of British tourism ever since.

As a writer, I find it hard to get articles about Tenerife published in the ‘quality’ press because it’s still seen as Brits Abroad Land. Over time, the island’s image will change and we see a few positive pockets of press coverage now but it’s an awfully long way back and Tenerife is still paying the price for media sensationalism.

Report this comment

Darren Cronian | 31 August, 2010 at 2:49 pm

@ Andy

A very good example. I went on holiday to Tenerife, and stayed in Playa de las Americas, then not long after I returned, the first series of Tenerife uncovered appeared on our TV screens. Like you say, most of it was filmed on one street, and doesn’t reflect the island at all.

I read recently (can’t remember where now) that Tenerife tourism were spending a lot of money trying to change the image that people have of the island.

Report this comment

Darren Cronian | 31 August, 2010 at 2:57 pm

@ Nick

Good point about the long term effect!

Report this comment