Tourexpi
UNWTO Workshop Puts Focus on Modern, Dynamic Tourism Communications for Africa
The first Communications, Media and Tourism
Training Workshop in Africa (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, 13-15 November)
recognized the heightened relevance of tourism and the current opportunity to
gain greater visibility outside of the sector itself. Based on this premise,
the three-day event focused on the opportunities for placing tourism in the
mainstream conversation as well as the ongoing challenges facing communities,
destinations and Africa as a region.
“Leaning by doing”
Reflecting UNWTO’s collaborative approach to
communications, the workshop prioritised active learning among both
participants and trainers. To gain a better understanding of why tourism
matters and of how this needs to be communicated, the first day began with
visits to three case studies in and around Victoria Falls:
Tourism for Wildlife Conservation: A visit to the
Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust provided an opportunity to see community-led
conservation in action, offering a better understanding of where tourism is
supporting wildlife protection and where it can do more.
Tourism for Development: Face-to-face meetings with
the leaders and members of Umuzi Village made clear the challenges small
destinations face in gaining access to the benefits tourism can offer,
particularly with regards to outreach, communications and promotion.
Tourism for Nature: The rainforest inside Victoria
Falls National Park served as an example of tourism’s ability to support the
preservation of ecosystems, though again making clear how the sector’s full
potential is not always realized.
The field trips provided the basis for the
interactive learning sessions and workshops of the following two days. The 50
participants, drawn from 20 countries and from communications, destination
management and tourism governance, were tasked with addressing three of the key
challenges facing tourism communicators today: pitching to the media, building
and curating media relations, and focusing the narrative on tourism for
development.
The workshop was informed by presentations from
experts from UNWTO as well as from across the media spectrum (Meta, Channels
TV, TraveMedia Ireland) and from top content creators. The interactive
presentations again focused on the most relevant issues, including ways to
place tourism in the mainstream media, harnessing the power of social media for
tourism for development, working with the media, and effective communications
to showcase tourism’s importance for culture, heritage and communities.
Solutions and debates
With the focus of the Field Trips as the
foundations, participants were tasked with presenting their solutions to the
three main challenges outlined. With the focus again on interactive learning,
the different backgrounds and viewpoints informed discussions around how best
to pitch tourism to the wider media, how to work with media in an ever-changing
landscape, and how to move beyond tourism as just a leisure activity. The
discussions both highlighted the shared goals of diverse destinations while
also making clear the gaps in knowledge that still need to be filled, with
UNWTO standing ready to deliver further media training.
Alongside exploring the solutions to growing
tourism as a media topic, the workshop also focused on crisis communications,
again utilizing the diverse expertise of participants and the examples of the
field trips to identify ways to be more proactive and build readiness.
Image
Credit: © UNWTO
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