Media sensationalism is a challenge for the trade

I often forward national media articles to Travel Weekly’s editorial team – sometimes if I think there’s a good story to be found or a hook for a brilliant feature, and sometimes as I think the coverage is likely to affect our readers in some way.

I’ll often add a comment when I pass the articles on, and on a message a couple of weeks ago that comment was simply: “Here we go again.”

The article in question was a report about a wildfire in a popular holiday destination, which of course would always be something the travel trade would be keen to stay abreast of.

However, as is so often the case, the headline and article were peppered with phrases such as “tourists evacuated”, “emergency services scramble” and “holiday warning” – and those phrases really didn’t reflect the situation on the ground.

Of course, there can be very serious incidents and the topic of rising temperatures in destinations and the knock-on effects they can have are valid and crucial topics of discussion, with the Safer Travel Foundation issuing a report on preparedness just last week.

But as with that other summer headline staple – “travel chaos” – sadly a lot of these attention-grabbing stories don’t stand up to scrutiny once you dig a bit deeper.

As always, the Travel Weekly team will do our best to cover stories like these in an objective fashion and in a way that paints an accurate picture of the reality behind the headlines.

But based on the coverage before peak season even kicks in, it seems likely the trade will have to brace itself for another summer of sensationalism.

Comment from Travel Weekly, July 3 edition