CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Background
Paimre and Harro-Loit (2011) assert that events, the significance of people and facts in society become evident through media coverage. One of the ways people come to know about the world and beyond is through the media (Akin, 2005). Tmheedia is one of the major avenues through which people depend on for social, political and economic news. This implies that even though the media does not necessarily instruct people on what to think of, they set the agenda for what society thinks about regarding the events and issues that are discussed and these discussions serve as indicators for decision making.
In effect, the media influence how the world is perceived because the media constantly provides images and information about places (Couldry and McCarthy 2004; Moores 2005). Tmheedia
has a great transformational power especially when it comes to people’s image as well as their usage of space (Couldry and McCarthy, 2004; Jansson and Falkheimer 2006).
The development of the media industry has made available multiple sources of media including newspapers, television, radio, books, internet and magazines (Urry, 1990). However few of these sources possess newspapers’ advantage of accessibility, affordability and currency (Hill- James, 2006). Much of the information we have on issues relating to society is made possible through newspapers and the ways in which newspapers choose to cover social issues can have important consequences, influencing how individuals in society perceive those issues and their response to them (Dugle, 2013).
Media and tourism
Tourism has become a major industry as it makes significant contributions to many economies. It is therefore an important part of national development. The media is significant to
development tourism as it presents information about tourism through, newspapers, magazines, films, house journals, photographs, displays and exhibits, booklets and brochures (Santos, 2006). The newspapers have in more recent times started to publish tourism related information significantly (Parashar and Indolia, 2013). This stresses the relationship between the media and tourism reports. Godahewa (2011) holds the view that, the stronger the destination positioning and brand recall, the greater the chance of attracting these new tourists. Having decided on the destination, tourists may then seek specialist assistance to decide on the accommodation, travel arrangements, tour guide support etc. (Urry, 1990).
Branding and positioning the destination is therefore a very important aspect for emerging tourism markets. According to United Nations World Tourism Organisation, media reporting is significant to tourism because the vast majority of travel decisions are made by people who have never seen the destination first hand for themselves (UNWTO 2007). Tourists usually decide on the destination first based on what they have heard or seen from the media. Campbell (2005) affirms that tourist actions are known to be influenced by media providing people with fragments, narratives and representations of potential tourist spaces. No matter how attractive a tourist destination is, many people are unlikely to go there if they do not know about it (Okon, 2013). Media reports therefore provide tourists and potential tourists an image of the kinds of tourism experiences to expect at various destinations.
