Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In practice, however, there is little indication that in the tourism sector these programmes can be
used as a measure of ethics or to contend the excess of the activity itself. In a study prepared for
the CSR Practice Foreign Investment Advisory Service Investment Climate Department in
Romania the authors recommend that 'to ensure that a more sustainable form of tourism is
pursued, there is a need for stricter legislation coupled with joined-up government' (Dodds and
Joppe 2005: 35). To hope therefore that CSR in itself can guarantee transparency, accountability
and good behaviour is rather naïve or irresponsible.
Government, international relations and public diplomacy
As we claimed before, the state is central when dealing with tourism reputation systems.
Although tourism is a global industry, it is still largely shaped, funded and constrained by nation-
states and public money. Tourism is often seen as a major plank in economic policy and an
element in the international positioning of a state. The nation-state and its cultural and historical
heritage shape its tourism offerings, and the nation-state is a central sponsor and promoter in
terms of marketing the destination and portraying the cultural identity; this by providing the
regulatory framework for investment and resources in the face of subsidies, which are still key
and largely present in the sector.
For the state, tourism is about more than attracting visitors and foreign capital, it is also about
image-management, public and cultural diplomacy and development that together build the
international status of a nation; thus tourism is a plank in political public relations and propaganda.
Again the Beijing and London Olympics served to illustrate the intention of one country to
portray itself as an emerging power and another as a still-wannabe world contender. Because of
this, a tourism-reputation system makes use of public diplomacy aimed at foreign publics and
aims to advance the nation's interests by achieving understanding of, 'its ideas and ideals, its
institutions and culture, as well as its national goals and policies' (Melissen 2007: 11-12).
There has been renewed interest in public diplomacy since 9/11, refl ected in the literature on
public diplomacy, particularly in its communicative and relational aspects (Cowan 2008; Jonsson
and Hall 2003; Kelley 2009; Wye 2008; Ronfl edt and Acquila 2009; Snow and Taylor 2009;
Zaharna 2009; L'Etang 2009), for example:
Public diplomacy is part of a newly emerging paradigm of collaborative diplomacy, which
requires an approach that is fundamentally dialogue-based . . . nation-building and the
struggle against international terrorism are two prime examples where such an approach has
the potential to contribute to international stability . . . new public diplomacy is increasingly
about ideas and values, and involving non-governmental agents is seen as one of the most
effective ways of promoting and developing it.
(Melissen 2007: xxi)
We believe that public relations approaches to tourism need to incorporate cultural diplomacy
perspectives within their ambit. Cultural access to the language, literature, music, art, history, fi lm
and media, science and technology, medical sciences, are all ways of engaging with the nation's
values as a crucial aspect of the orchestrated complexity that takes place within tourism-
reputation systems. Because of this, these same components are central to marketing the tourism
potential of an event-place. There are some diffi cult communication challenges, however, since:
Cultures exist in continuous fl ux, continuously interpreted and reinterpreted through
human interactions, and embedded within the context of the lives of the members of the
