There have been many stories in the media recently that the unconfirmed news about the presence of “Taliban” in Kashmir has given a tremendous set-back to the tourist inflow at the very start of the season. A number of TV channels had splashed the “news” about the presence of Taliban repeatedly. In spite of denials by various Government agencies, some national level columnists continue to talk about the presence of Taliban in Kashmir. Massive cancellations of advance bookings have been reported by hoteliers and travel agents because of this story. After the extra-ordinary turn out in last assembly elections, it was expected that the valley will get a big boost in tourist arrivals. However, the reverse has happened even though the situation is very conducive for tourism. One cannot stop media from reporting adverse happenings. Any thing unusual is news. It is said that if a dog bites a man no body bothers but if a man bites a dog, it is news. However, a responsible journalist has to do objective reporting without giving any twist or angle. In addition, it is also imperative to fully verify the details of any happenings and also give exact locations of such happenings. This helps people in knowing whether the place they are planning to visit is safe. Generalised panic about incidents virtually closes an entire region even though the problem may be limited to an isolated spot.

The typical example of this panic created by the media is the news about the outbreak of plague in Gujarat some years back. It created such a disturbance that a number of Airlines stopped operating to India. Ultimately it was discovered that no plague had broken out. Similarly, closure of civil airport in Srinagar for three days in May, 1999 during the Kargil conflict scared away thousands of tourists from Kashmir. Recently after the Mumbai attacks, a number of European Foreign Offices advised their nationals to suspend all travel to India. The media coverage had scared every one and they thought the entire country was facing terrorist attacks. The Lahore attack on Sri Lankan team is supposed to have ended the future of cricket in Pakistan. It needs to be pointed out that the media bases its stories on information gathered from various sources as also that given out by the official spokespersons. In our State every Government functionary tends to become an official spokesperson. Normally, it had been the practice in the past that all government versions would emanate from one source only. Either the head of the government used to addresses the press or one single spokesperson designated by the government gave out the official version. However, at present there is no such system. Everyone for reasons best known to him or her goes straight to media both electronic and print and gives out stories which are subsequently denied by different concerned agencies.

The sole objective of addressing the media seems personal projection. The denials do not help as the initial damage has already been done. The first priority of the government should be to rein in its officials whether connected with the security apparatus or with the civil administration regarding going freely to media. There is a difference in talking to media at their initiative for verification of the actual facts behind various stories and in making suo moto statements on one’s own concerning different sectors especially the security scenario. The subject of security and the prevalent situation is a very sensitive one. Any unusual news in this regard makes a top story for all the media channels. Once the reputation of a destination is spoiled by too much negative publicity, it is difficult to convince people about re-visiting the place. In a number of destinations like ski resorts and beach areas repeat tourism is very important. To maintain the flow the media has to play a positive role. Apart from improving the system of dissemination of news by making it more responsible as well as accountable, there is urgent need for an interaction between the media and the travel trade.

Media can promote tourism by projecting a destination and it can also destroy a destination by negative publicity. It is only a matter of understanding the intricacies of each activity and then establishing a working relationship. All over the world tourism organisations both in the government and the private sector use various organs of media, the print as well as electronic, to acquaint people at large about the attractions as well as facilities available in different tourist resorts. It is through media that the products of tourism are marketed in different potential markets. Quite often for this purpose media campaigns are run on seasonal and sometimes on year round basis. These campaigns are used for branding of the products. Many of these ad campaigns on the electronic media cost millions of dollars. Some of the important campaigns carried out for branding include the “Incredible India!”, “Malaysia, Truly Asia”, and “Kerala, God’s Own Country”. To keep a tourist destination in the right perspective, the tourism authorities have to be in continuous contact with the media. They have to be pro-active and not reactive. Based on media reports, foreign offices of many countries issue adverse travel advisories completely shutting out countries and sometimes entire regions. Such advisories are sometimes biased and prejudiced.

These can be countered by pro-active tourism authorities who have to be in continuous touch with the Consular Offices as well as the media. During Kargil war the Asian Age newspaper carried the front page banner as “IAF bombs Kargil heights”. On the same page below this story was a headline, “Rush of tourists to Kashmir valley”. Similarly, the Time magazine carried a cover story, “War in Kargil” but inside there was a full page despatch titled, “War in the mountains, calm in the valley!” Some similar stories about visit of foreigners to Kashmir at the peak of militancy were carried by the New York Times, Travel Asia, and other newspapers. Their theme was the persistence of Kashmir Tourism authorities in projecting the valley as a tourist destination in spite of uncertain situation. This was possible due to proactive role of tourism authorities. Some years back we used to have regular interaction between the media and the tourism authorities but this seems to have been given up during last few years.

It must also be emphasised that there is absolutely no point in raising local media hype about tourism activities. Again there seems to be no point except self projection by various authorities. This has to be understood both by the tourism authorities and the media. Tourism should be considered like any other economic activity such as handicraft trade, fruit export etc. In fact, it is taken all over the world to be the largest export industry. Countries earn millions of dollars in foreign exchange without exporting anything except goodwill and some souvenirs. Tourists continue to visit some of the hot spots like Israel (Jerusalem), Beirut (Lebanon), and some other places in South America without local politicians coming on their TV networks to claim return of normalcy. There is urgent need for interaction between the media and tourism authorities on the subject. Most of these things can be sorted out in a conference of the top media stalwarts and the captains of tourism industry. There has never been a national level interaction on the subject and in view of the uncertain situations propping up off and on, such an event is the need of the hour.

The state tourism department could co-sponsor this event with some news group. One of the most typical examples of this media-tourism co-operation could be seen during the 9/11 episode in USA. The crumbling of both the world trade centre towers was seen live by millions of people all over the world. However, no one has ever seen any photograph or video of dead bodies or the human remains of the tragic event. The media did not want to create a panic and served the national interest of America by respecting the sentiments of the local people. Let us hope that we too can work out a similar relationship between the media and tourism! In concluding this article it may be again pointed out to the captains of the travel trade that it is not media only which is hampering tourism to Kashmir. It has been reported that the security personnel at the airport advise departing tourists to tell others not to come to Kashmir due to uncertain situation. Even the Government of India Tourist Offices abroad and the Indian Embassies discourage tourism to Kashmir. The tourist authorities need to take up the removal of these additional handicaps hampering tourist inflow to the valley at the highest level!