Media should play bigger role to promote tourism

By Pramod DE SILVA

Tourism is about people. So is news. People travel. People make news. The first thing I learned in the newsroom, 20 years ago, is that news is all about people. Tourism too is all about people.

Thus, the topic ‘The media’s role in promoting tourism to enhance people-to-people contact in the SAARC region’ is a very appropriate one.

The fact is we are all travellers. Everyone loves to travel, journalists especially so. After all, they are very curious about their world.

Although an old airline advert said ‘getting there is half the fun’, the better part of the fun is in the destination itself. And South Asia is a glorious destination.

At the recently concluded SAARC Summit in Addu, Maldives, it was agreed to promote our region collectively as Destination South Asia. This is a very positive development. But still, SAARC is collectively getting only seven to eight million tourists a year. There is potential to attract a lot more as a region, since much smaller countries in Asia attract more tourists individually as well as collectively.

For example, Singapore gets around eight million and Macau, 11 million despite having fewer attractions.

There is a big role for the media in SAARC countries to play in boosting these numbers. The media should use every opportunity to promote tourism.

Very recently, there was a news item on the BBC that a Sri Lankan has been selected as the world’s best tourist guide. Sadly, no Sri Lankan media except the Sunday Observer reported this victory. So we are missing out on some opportunities to capitalise on our successes. Our media should be more pro-active in these instances.

The media is one of the most important aspects of the tourism business. There are two primary ways in which people get to know about where to travel; word of mouth and media.

Traditional media

Maldives beach

Himalayan trek

If a friend says he has been to the lovely beach in Unawatuna, I too might want to try it out. On the other hand, a colourful feature about Unawatuna in a magazine such as Wanderlust or a newspaper, replete with pictures, might convince me even more. That is the power of the media.

Many types of media can be used to promote tourism. The first one is traditional print media, both newspapers and magazines. There are travel writers and sections in most newspapers, including, most importantly, in the vernacular press. It is wonderful to write about the places you have been to, to inform and entertain the readers. So the printed media still has a lot of life left and a vibrant role to play in promoting tourism.

The time has come to form an Association of South Asian Travel Writers, so that they can write more about South Asia’s tourist sites, facilities and attractions. If possible, we should explore the possibility of launching a South Asian tourism magazine, perhaps taking a cue from Himal South Asian, that wonderful magazine published out of Nepal.

Then comes the electronic media, radio and television. One would not think of radio as a tourism development tool because it lacks a visual component, but magazine-type radio programs focusing on a given destination with live phone-in facilities can be surprisingly effective. But television is far more powerful. It would be wonderful if South Asia collectively can get more exposure in travel programs and channels aired worldwide.

A program need not even be about travel per se – an example is ‘My Sri Lanka’ a cookery show by Lankan Chef Peter Kuruvita which has already generated a lot of interest in Sri Lanka among Australians and New Zealanders (it is shown on Australia's SBS ). Programs on wildlife, city life and beaches have helped boost tourist arrivals to our countries.

I have seen some of our TV channels telecasting documentaries about countries such as Lesotho; it is time that South Asian channels focused more on South Asia itself.

Web components

There are several components of the Web that are now even more powerful than the plain old Web itself. Namely, the social networks. Facebook and Twitter have become great tools for promoting tourism. Here again, what about a Facebook fan page for South Asia tourism, with special offers? How about updates on Twitter about South Asian tourism?

There could also be a separate YouTube channel for South Asian tourism with stunning videos. Individual countries too can promote their own countries through these sites.

For example on Twitter: @HolidayGreece sent out the following tweet: “#Santorini trip: Have you ever seen the old volcano?" 

The phrase “old volcano” might be enticing to many, leading them to click on the link and experience, first-hand, the beauty of the place through images and details and so on.

But the best part of social networks is that anyone can be a travel writer or photographer. Just trekked the Himalayas? Upload your pictures to Flickr and Facebook. And the videos to YouTube. You can Tweet while on the trip and update your Facebook page too.

There are thousands of photos and videos about South Asia, uploaded by travellers. This is a great resource that we can perhaps harness.

That brings us to the fourth category, which is fast becoming the most important one. They are specific travel and tourism applications for tablet computers such as the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Amazon Kindle Fire and smartphones such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and the Samsung Galaxy SII and other Android phones. You no longer have to carry a huge guidebook in hand. It’s all there on your tablet or smartphone.

From booking a trip in the SAARC region to checking the weather to the best tourism spots in the region, our media houses and app developers should come up with suitable products to promote tourism. We can cite plenty of examples from other parts of the world. For example, I recently tried an app by Abercrombie and Kent that allows users to virtually visit 26 "iconic destinations" around the world using multimedia content.

Interactive maps

Travellers can use the app's interactive map to display the places they've visited or wish to visit and can then export the map to Google Earth to share with family and friends. Tourism Victoria recently released a stylish Play Melbourne app with about 500 listings of cafes, bars, restaurants and shops in Melbourne, while Tourism Western Australia has just launched an Experience WA app with more than 7,000 listings.

However, the most exciting thing in apps is Augmented Reality. What if you can point your phone at Sigiriya and get all the information about its history, features, entry prices and facilities on your screen? There are some independent apps that can already do similar things, but SAARC media organisations can take the initiative to tailor make such AR applications.

We must also take into account the converging media – all the newspapers now have a presence on the web, with some of them carrying audio and video. Despite the popularity of stand-alone apps, the web on a PC or Mac is still the first stop for most travellers. Again, SAARC media houses must contribute to making a one-stop SAARC web presence that will enable more travellers to get information on all SAARC countries.

I believe that media organisations in the region, and SAARC itself, have failed in one other task: Popularising intra-SAARC travel by South Asian citizens. Intra-regional tourism is at a very low level.

Newspapers and television stations in the region should have more articles and programs promoting attractions in SAARC region itself. SAARC citizens unfortunately have very little knowledge on tourist attractions in SAARC itself, apart from those in their own countries. So those in the media, have to create more awareness on those places of interest. Then Indians will know as much about Sigiriya as Sri Lankans. Lankans will know equally well about the Red Fort and so on.

Policy makers

Of course, SAARC policy makers can help in this endeavour by relaxing visa and border controls for accredited SAARC travel writers and journalists. The tourist boards of each SAARC country can invite journalists from other SAARC countries for familiarisation tours, which will receive wide publicity in all SAARC nations.

Journalists from our region should be involved in writing travel guides on our countries published by big names such as Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and Bradt. They are primarily written by foreigners living in our countries, but they might still lack the unique insights that the locals possess.

Journalists like to travel. They like to find out new things and write about them. South Asia is such a vast destination that we have only barely scratched the surface when it comes to the tourism potential for travel from outside and within our region.

So, there is a lot more scope for the stories about South Asia to be told to travellers out there. And it is something that the South Asian media must do with more vigour.

While there are initiatives that can be taken by the authorities to facilitate this process, the onus is on journalists and media houses to rise to the occasion. South Asia deserves to be seen by more people worldwide and we have a duty to ensure that they do.

Based on the speech delivered by the writer at the SAARC parley on 'Media's role in promoting tourism to enhance people-to-contact' at the Gateway Hotel Airport Garden, Seeduwa, last week.