Media Influence on the Tourism Industry - Essay Example

The tourism industry is one of the world most unique industries due to the fact that every country in the world is a potential tourism spot. In 2008 there were 922 million tourists traveling across the world whose activities generated $944 million in revenues (Opentravel, 2009). There is a huge demand for tourism because it is within human nature to want to visit other parts of the world and learn about other cultures. The region that is visited the most by the global tourists is the European Union which absorbs about 68% of the tourism movement and 75% of the tourism revenues (Rita, 2000). Tourism works unlike other industries in the fact that the industry depends a lot on the media for the success of the industry as a whole. The media is one of biggest drivers of tourism because the media serves the role of creating awareness about different places that are attractive for tourist to visit. The media influences tourism in a lot of ways. The role of media on tourism is a two-edge sword because the media can affect tourism in both a positive and negative way. One of the largest industries the media controls is the movie industry. A lot of movies showcase tourism spots indirectly in the plots of movies. Take for example the movie The Beach. This movie was filmed at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The movie was filmed on Thailand’s Maya Beach (Thailandlogue, 2011). After the movie was released the Maya Beach region received a huge influx of tourists due to the free promotion Maya Beach received. Movies are just one of many ways the media can influence tourism. There are television channels that are solely dedicated to promoting tourism worldwide. A channel that has done a great job promoting tourism is the Travel Channel. The purpose of the Travel Channel is to connect people to the power and joy of human journey that inspires, surprises, and entertain humans across the world (Travelchannel, 2011). The written press is another media channel that has lot of power and its actions influence tourism. Most national newspapers have a section dedicated to travel. The travel section of a newspaper showcases different tourism spots across the world. When people read and see pictures about different parts of the world they get motivated to save money in order to visit these places. There is valuable information in newspapers that can help tourism once they reach their destination. Information such as the current currency exchange rate and weather information can be obtained by reading a local newspaper. A lot of countries advertise themselves through magazines. The efforts of the media play a vital role in the promotion of tourism. One of the most important aspects about tourism is that it promotes economic development. There are countries in the world such as many of the Caribbean inlands that are extremely dependent on tourism dollars to support their national economies. “Tourism is highly dependent on media reporting because the vast majority of travel decisions are made by people who have never seen the destination first hand themselves” (Un, 2007). The exposure the media can provide to a region can help generate tourism. One of the ways the media can help tourism as a whole is by teaching people about other cultures. Television programs can help people get accustomed to the idea of visiting a new location. For example the television series “Outsourced” produced by NBC showcases a cast of actors of Indian descent (Sidereel, 2011). Through the program people can learn about the culture of India which can help raise a person’s interest in visiting such a location. Another type of program that directly influences the tourism prospects of a country are documentaries. A documentary can be defined as media that presents a non-fictional story that incorporates music, pictures, video clips, emotion, camera angles, and lighting to enhance a story (Blogspot, 2007). When documentaries are used to showcase a country potential tourists get a chance to get an in-depth view a country. Documentaries are usually over one hour long. There are different global tourism initiatives across the world that call for greater media involvement in the outcome of the industry. In 2004 the first world conference on tourism communication, TOURCOM, was organized by the World Tourism Organization. In this historic conference over 126 countries and 830 delegates participated in a discussion over how the media can better serve the needs of the tourism industry. The World Tourism Organization called on the media to play a responsible role in covering events which can impact heavily on the livelihood of travel destinations and the local population (Asiatraveltips, 2004). Despite all the benefits that the media brings the tourism industry there are also negative aspects of their coverage. The coverage of natural disasters can have a detrimental effect on tourism. People are turned away from locations that have been victims of natural disasters. When these events occur typically the media only focuses on the bad things that are occurring due to such an event. For example the media might report an earthquake hit a country. The media will show the destruction and human suffering, but a lot of times they do not specify the reach of the event which might confuse potential tourists that assume the entire the country is at chaos. The media also likes to sensationalized news such as coverage of a corrupt politician. The politician’s action might be an isolated incident, but the media will make it seem as if the entire country is suffering from a corruption plague. These type of news are bad the tourism of a country. Tourism activity involves costs including the direct costs incurred by tourism businesses and the infrastructure costs the government incurs to attract tourist (Stynes). The media uses different standards based on the stakeholder group they are focusing on. For the media the most important stakeholder group is the consumer. The consumers are the most important group for the media because the media depends on the consumers to generate revenues. Television stations earn money by selling commercials consumers are going to watch. The efforts of the media concerning social and ethical issues on many instances are not reflective of the focus that should be place on many social dilemmas. For example the Sub-Saharan African region is in dying need of help from the global community due to social problems such as extreme poverty, malnutrition, and health epidemics (CultureGrams, 2011). The media could do more to raise awareness among the global community, but these issues are not the priority of the media because featuring stories on these types of social problem does not sell ratings. References Asiatraveltips.com (2004). World Tourism Organization calls on media to play responsible role in covering high impact events. Retrieved May 25, 2011 from http://www.asiatraveltips.com/travelnews04/62Media.shtml Blogspot.com (2007). What is a Documentary? Retrieved May 25, 2011 from http://sivadhe.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-is-documentary.html CultureGrams (2011). Africa. Retrieved May 25, 2011 from CultureGrams database. Opentravel.com (2009). Top Ten World’s Tourism Earners. Retrieved May 26, 2011 from http://opentravel.com/blogs/top-ten-worlds-tourism-earners/ Rita, P. (2000). Tourism in the European Union. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(7), 434-436. Retrieved May 26, 2011 from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=867361&show=pdf Sidereel.com (2011). Outsourced. Retrieved May 24, 2011 from http://www.sidereel.com/Outsourced Stynes, D. Economic Impacts of Tourism. Retrieved May 25, 2011 from https://www.msu.edu/course/prr/840/econimpact/pdf/ecimpvol1.pdf Un.org (2007). Media have vital role in promoting tourism for economic development –UN. Retrieved May 26, 2011 from http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23983&Cr=georgia&Cr1=tourism Thailandlogue.com (2011). Real Beach Where the Movie “The Beach” was Filmed. Retrieved May 25, 2011 from http://www.thailandlogue.com/real-beach-where-the-beach-was-filmed.html Travelchannel.com (2011). About Us. Retrieved May 25, 2011 from http://www.travelchannel.com/About/ci.About_Us.basic Read More