The media play in encouraging Essay Example for Free

The media play in encouraging EssayWhat role does the media play in encouraging or discouraging touristry to detail destinations? Popular mediums of media including tear, television, internet and print media can influence the appeal of certain travel destinations and activities. It can prompt a require or avert tourism destinations as suggested by MacCannell (1976) these media forms can highly construct or highlight particular images of destinations to act as a marker. likely tourists base their knowledge on such information provided whether to travel or not to particular destinations. Film induced tourism can also chip in ab away an increase in the cultural value of the consider location being heritage sites. Firstly, in the case of New Zealands Maori culture has gained identifiable status finished media exposure. The film Whale Rider (2002) for instance thoroughly demonstrates the Maori culture. In customary Maori culture the beliefs, clothing, animals, plants and cer tain landforms are spiritually linked with particular groups of individuals. The film represents this through the whales being the ancient symbol for the Ngati Konohi community.Thus, by maintaining a sense of identity it offers an opportunity for individuals to fall and provide expressions of self. Additionally, this film can close in individuals strongly interested in culture especially of New Zealands Maori culture. As well as this heritage sites which dumbfound been set as film locations gain fame and recognition by its audience after the release of the film. These locations often gain meaning through film narration. For example Mission Impossible 2 (2000) was filmed at the Sydney Royal National Park. Due to the commonplaceity of the film series an increase of visits to the park occurred during 2000 the year the film was released. Hence, can be evidently seen media plays a major role in encouraging tourism to certain destinations. However, with the expansion of different type s of visitors to a destination it could also provoke an adjusted behaviour in tourists (Smith et al, 2010). The world heritage site in Angkor, Cambodia had been utilised and set up as a location for the adventure film Tomb Raider. Tourists who had viewed and felt a sense of yearning to visit the location of the film were discovered climbing on the ancient sanctuary temple walls in order to attempt and succeed the protagonist.This kind of media coverage creates a negative impact on the site as tourists are not respecting or obliging to conservation plans setout for the site. The inappropriate manner can additionally provoke iconic pieces or souvenirs to be removed from the film induced tourism locations so as to be able to efficiently oblige with conservation plans. Media based tourism can wreak additional income and jobs to an area and in particular can provide opportunities for change souvenirs/merchandising and spin-off services such as themed tours and services (Smith et al, 2 010 p.73). This is evident in umpteen tourist destinations including Thailand and the film The Beach. It has created a strong stimulation of desires for lot to visit the film location in addition to the surrounding areas of Thailand. Due to the large tourism activity, tour companies have taken advantaged and advertised motley tours which circuits dissimilar film based locations and entitled them The Beach Tours (Law et al 2007). Extraordinariness can also be added to entice travellers such as recounting stories and gossip within the tours to the highest degree the production of The Beach.Also the Footsteps on the Beach website was created which sells Thailand to a more mass audience as well as reach potential tourists to visit Thailand through images and meaning. Desires can also be a reason why individuals choose to travel in the first place. Therefore, by creating strong desires and adding extraordinariness through media exposure it hike encourages individuals to travel. The idea of a journey with fun filled sire can also prompt an encouragement to travel and explore destinations. There are legion(predicate) journey narratives exposed starting from early childhood years. Journey narratives are stories which are structured around a physical journey. Along the way individuals reflect and grow to develop a stronger understanding of self. For instance contemporary narratives of Eat Pray Love or Lord of the Rings. Characters undertake a journey in order to discover a purpose through the meaningful experiences occurred on the way. These encourage a desire for otherness and difference attr acting the explorer and drifter tourists.This is collect to the fact such tourists do not mind getting off the beaten tracks, leaving the environmental bubble voluntarily and preferring a novelty experience (Cohen 2004). Many of these media have influenced young individuals to travel as they have gotten older. Thus childrens stories are a major motivator for individuals to travel as its the first contact many individuals have in terms of media and tourism. Additionally, journey narratives are powerful motivators as individuals seek out tourism destinations. Riley et al (1992)have distinguished the downsides of main concern as the exploitation of locals and visitors, expanding costs, absence of readiness of locals when managing with the high tourist influx, the way the location differs from the way it is portrayed in the forms of media deliverance about a loss of tourist fulfilment and satisfaction and the various effects of souvenir hunters particularly those who consume signs and markers. These components relate to the film induced tourism audience and ever expanding tourist visitations to such locations. An important and ambiguous issue to be considered when arguing views of film induced tourism is that of the actual versus the envisioned images as created by the media.Butler (1990) indicates that in a number of times films are not shot at the l ocations they imply to be. For instance the Philippines was adopted to portray Vietnam in the 1986 Vietnam War film Platoon. This then creates a condition where the general audience are constructing their knowledge on false information and developing false expectations and desires of destinations they regulate to visit. It can be argued that much of the expectations in tourism is created with what is presented and viewed in the media. These expectations are developed overtime due to the mass promotions, guidebooks and stories of tourism travel from documentaries and films. The information provided is unremarkably of implied promises. Boorstin (1972) suggests these pseudo-events are responsible for the inauthenticity of the tourism industry.Commentators suggest that media tourism is a clear example of post-tourism (Smith et al, 2010 p.74) and the visitor perspectives of locations are somewhat of a giant cinema pervade suggesting the inauthenticity of a place. Consequently, result ing in tourists dissatisfaction with their travel experiences. As an outcome tension is created and discourages tourists from visiting certain destinations. A further case of the immediate complications that media production can bring can be evident in Thailand. Here 20th century Fox filmed The Beach. In order to prepare the site for production and to undertake filming the beach was demolished and widened with much of the native vegetation and a mass amount of rubbish from the isolated beach also being removed. The demolition of the natural environment became a major concern. The landscape was modified so the global cinematic audience is offered an idealised journey in a fantasize space, one based on a dream of the tropics (Law et al 2007). In doing so Higgins-Desbiolles (2001) claims it tarnishedthe Thai Government, damaged the reputation of Twentieth Century Fox, sparked a desire for travel within the young fan base and opened up the opportunities for companies to promote thems elves.However, the major benefit that came out of this production was that it boosted the Thailand economy by an estimated US$150000. Clearly the media plays a role in both encouraging and discouraging tourists to visit certain destinations based on their tourist attentivenesss. The tourist gaze was founded by Urry who outlines is a visual nature of tourism. It refers to the way in which tourists seek out and consume visual images and the means by which the tourism industry organises and directs this aspiration (Smith 2010 p.174). The gaze can be seen as having a positive outcome on tourism destinations. Bruno (1997) explains that viewers of media are in a way acting like tourists. Having viewed certain television shows such as The Amazing Race the audience feel a compelling motivation to go and travel as well due to the depicted images in the show. However, it can also demotivate in terms of negative publicity placed on certain locations. For instance many individuals avoid the M iddle East regions due to sudden eruptions of conflict such as war and terrorist attacks.Many news reports have displayed images of such risks. This information is then publicly revealed to a mass audience including potential tourists. Resulting in tourists rethinking about their destination choices and seeking other locations instead. Tourism is a key component of popular culture and is fed and feeds from the media which both circulates and produces culture. The power of media especially film and television can motivate travellers, create new images, alter negative images and create and placing icons on maps is recognised as a major factor in promoting tourism travel. Through the analysis of the film The Beach as well as various researchers including Law, Smith and Urry a further understanding is established in terms of media and the influence it can have on tourism whether in positive or negative conducts. As evident media does play a major role in deciding tourist destinations.Re ference ListBoorstin, D.J 1972, The Image A race to Pseudi Events in America, Atheneum, New York. Butler, R.W 1990, The influence of the media in shaping international tourist patterns, Tourism Recreation Research, vol. 15, no. 2, pp.4653. Cohen, E 2004, Toward a sociology of international tourism,in coetaneous tourism diversity and change, Elsevier, Boston, MA, pp. 37-47. Higgins-Desbiolles, F 2001, Battlelines on The Beach Tourism and globalisation. Policy, Organisation and Society Special Edition Different Globalisations, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 116138. Law, L., Bunnell, T. and Ong, C 2007, The Beach, the gaze and film tourism, Tourist Studies, vol 7, no. 2, pp. 141-164. MacCannell, D 1976, A semiotic of attraction, in The tourist a new theory of the leisure class, Schocken Books, New York, pp. 109-33. Riley, R. VanDoren, C.S 1992, Movies as tourism promotion A pull factor in a push location. Tourism Management, September, pp. 267274. Film TV Tourism in Smith, M., MacLeod, N. and Hart Robertson, M 2010, discover Concepts in Tourist Studies. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi Singapore, SAGE, pp. 71-75.