Tourism, an implicit aid in counter propaganda

Vipula WANIGASEKERA

In tourism, attention is usually focused on direct tangible results in terms of foreign receipts, employment and the level of support services such as entertainment, shopping etc. This is normal for a well blended product - service combination like tourism, particularly when it generates nearly a billion international tourist arrivals with receipts over USD 850 billion (in 2007) globally.

The stream of indirect benefits of tourism into an economy is also enormous. To ascertain the real impact of indirect benefits calls for an intense research which some countries have succeeded in carrying out the outcome of which have enabled the authorities to justify diverting more funds into their tourism campaigns. This write up is to touch on an attribute of tourism in countering adverse publicity on Sri Lanka which is currently at its peak. To see this prospect in its true viewpoint, tourism should be seen beyond its known definition which reads "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours".

The contribution of tourism in image correction and image building efforts cannot be measured in terms of money. If one considers this aspect in an overall plan of action for countering bad publicity, tourism will compliment all the endeavours, as an image issue without substantial evidence, is a basic communication problem.

Among the determinants of countering adverse publicity are the understanding of the communication issue, finding out the roots of bad publicity, identifying the opinion makers, developing the right messages, getting the exposure from the desired media and reaching out to the target audiences. Of the modes of communication, word of mouth reporting by independent sources leads the rest due to the credibility factor.

Fighting harmful media reporting has been a challenge for the Sri Lankan Government for decades, successful conduct of which had been tilting on the scale from time to time. The need to drive this process is now felt more than ever before, when the final battle against insurgency is now seen as the light at the end of the tunnel and the long awaited economic development calls for foreign investments.

The common belief on 'head on' or direct counteractions have their merits no doubt. Strategists on the subject however point out the effectiveness of indirect approaches that could bring in more desired results because such methods carry more integrity. Tourism does exactly that.

Egypt receives well over 11m tourists with an annual growth of 11 per cent and this is a country where tourists were deliberately targeted and killed. Such massacres were recorded in Egypt regularly almost every year. If one studies the mode of communication Egypt has worked on to sustain growth, it is nothing but tourism itself !. (Princess Diana was one tourist in the early 90s who shared her experience and that had a huge boost on their publicity campaign for several years thereafter.)

In geographic segmentation of the markets for Sri Lanka tourism, at least in four countries viz UK, Germany, France and India. Sri Lanka needs to fight adverse propaganda and convince the audiences of what is really going on here. The term ' civil war' has damaged the image of Sri Lanka considerably but tourists can effectively quash such versions when they return after a memorable experience.

Travel writers, tour operators, holiday makers, incentive travellers and business and conference delegates are all foreigners who are members of the target audience in tourism promotional campaigns. The ' seeing, being, doing ' they relate to their countrymen carries the highest credibility over what the Sri Lankans themselves could report through advertising and press releases.

The messages so carried by them are considered dependable. The attractions and locations from golden beaches to fertile greenery, adventure safaris, wildlife and the heritage running back to over two thousand years become dreams in the minds of the potential travellers who would want to realize them.

Tourism should therefore be reckoned as a primary tool in communication that can offset negative publicity, deliberately or otherwise generated in countries that are important to Sri Lanka. At a time a new brand of Sri Lanka Tourism is poised to be launched followed by a communication campaign, it is necessary for other authorities to ride on the powerful messages that the campaign would entail.

The authorities of many international bodies have their agendas and political compulsions when reporting the situation in Sri Lanka. Damage caused by them to Sri Lanka has so far been colossal. Sri Lanka on the other hand can depend on the innocent tourists who stood by the Sri Lankans, sometimes with repeat holidays, year after year, and they would carry the message that Sri Lanka is safe for investment and tourism.

An appeal to them for this favour would not go waste and they would only be happy to do so.