Tourism Update Editor Adele Mackenzie, who won the Tourism News Award at the inaugural Africa Travel Week Awards during World Travel Market Africa this year, has emphasised the media’s role in helping to drive change and champion causes in the travel and tourism community.
Mackenzie won the award for her series of articles on visa challenges, in which she highlighted how South Africa was losing out on key source markets because of massive delays in getting visas, visas being denied, and apathy and rudeness on the part of visa officials.
She included anecdotal evidence as well as conducting a short survey to determine the full impact on the industry, addressing the issue academically and showing how businesses are directly impacted. “This makes the story more real,” Mackenzie said.
She will now turn her focus to increasing airlift to southern and East Africa.
“Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities at the City of Cape Town, James Vos, suggested I tackle it as a next project for Tourism Update, something the owners of Now Media Anton and Dave Marsh, are also passionate about. There simply aren’t enough flights, especially direct flights, to meet the growing demand for global and regional travel. It’s all well and good to fast-track visas, but pointless if these source markets still cannot get to us easily,” Mackenzie noted.
The media’s role in helping to drive change
Mackenzie highlighted that Tourism Update is aimed at markets that sell or buy travel in southern and East Africa as well as legislators, policy makers, decision makers, and ancillary services in the sector.
“We have a broader reach than most single businesses do, so we can help raise awareness of marketing efforts, barriers to tourism growth, and efforts by tourism organisations, who are working tirelessly to address these obstacles.”
Iga Motylska, a freelance journalist and SEO copywriter who specialises in travel and hospitality, said that articles such as the recent captive lion trade story, highlights the important role the media plays in educating audiences on ethical and non-ethical experiences within the tourism and hospitality industry.
“The media can help readers understand the reasoning behind the ethics and also give them the tools to do independent research. Through their own research, journalists craft an impactful narrative and argument for or against certain experiences. So in a way they are creating social consciousness around certain topics. At the same time, we hope that we can make a difference, even if it’s changing the thoughts and behaviour of a single reader,” Motylska said.
Kojo Bentum-Williams, Publisher at VoyagesAfriq, a key publication in African tourism, added that the media plays an important role in shaping perceptions of the sector and its effect on society, and is in a prime position to promote change.
“The media, through their platforms, can elevate the perception of tourism as being seen as a major economic force as opposed to being viewed through a casual lens,” he said.
Symbiotic relationship
Mackenzie said that the relationship between the media and the travel and tourism community is symbiotic.
“Publications are largely dependent on advertisers for their revenue, and advertisers are dependent on the publication as a vehicle to get their message across to their customers and raise awareness about the business, whether it's first-time routes for airlines, the opening of new properties, or investment opportunities. Simultaneously, they are a valuable channel to receive news that directly impacts business decisions.”
Mackenzie also stressed the importance of accountability.
“Many readers have not always been happy with what we report on or how we do it but it’s the nature of our business. We are accountable to our readers and they often hold us accountable. But even more readers have communicated to us how grateful they were that they could rely on us for this news, especially during times like COVID.”
She added that media publications like Tourism Update that write for the travel trade, serve the dual purpose of informing and being an active member of the industry.
“We inform the industry of issues impacting the inbound trades' decisions to send tourists to southern and East Africa. But we are also a community publication and an integral part of the industry. If the industry bleeds, so do we. The tourism policies and legislation, ease of movement, and other issues all directly impact us.”
Build a sound relationship with journalists
Motylska believes that it is important for businesses to nurture relationships with the media.
“Invite them into your space, showcase your offerings and provide them with any kind of information that they might need, in the form of press releases, or securing interviews with individual experts. Keep them on your database, keep them informed about your business activities, connect with them from time to time to ask about any stories they are working on, and share from your side as well,” she advised.
She added that it is essential to allow journalists 'to do what they do best', as very often businesses try to push a certain agenda that is in some way linked to their marketing plan and goals, but it might not necessarily be interesting or relevant to readers.
“I often find that journalists want some background and to be able to tell stories from the heart. So I think it is important for interested parties to have confidence in their abilities and to know that they have a clear understanding of how the media works. This is also an amazing opportunity to find stories that companies and their sales teams might have overlooked.”
She concluded that very often, marketing teams try to pigeonhole journalists and want them to cover a certain story or particular viewpoint, and while there is virtue in that, journalists also seek out unique angles that haven’t been told before.
