Travel Reference
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2014 Ebola outbreak. Food and water shortages are often seen near all-inclu-
sive resorts. In Bali, The Gambia and Goa, a study by Tourism Concern
revealed that tourists use 16 times as much water as locals causing both
conflict and disease (Hickman, 2012). The final category is technology. The
tourism industry has readily incorporated the use of information technol-
ogy on numerous fronts (Buhalis & Law, 2008). In the context of technol-
ogy, one could argue that the availability of access to the internet can allow
a small company in a developing country to develop a website to market
their tourism product globally and, hence, contribute to the development
process. However, as noted in Figure 14.1, critical systems failure, cyber-
attacks and massive digital misinformation are all potential risks that the
tourism industry could face. With social media and visitors contributing
reviews online to websites, the industry faces significant challenges about
the accuracy of the information on the internet. Also, social media has
allowed people to circumvent national media bans and, hence, to become
broadcasters to the world, getting around state media.
Issue-attention Cycle
With advances in communication technology, the typical news cycle has
been drastically shortened as news items are often shared in real time. What
is argued in this chapter is the potential value of using the various theories
and disciplines linked to international studies to better understand what is
going on and how the events may impact tourism. Downs (1972) refers to
the issue-attention cycle, which is linked to the nature of the problem, but
also to the way communications media interact with the public. The cycle
has five stages and the duration depends on the particular issue that is involved.
The first stage is the 'pre-problem stage', where there is a highly undesirable
social condition that exists but the issue has not yet captured much public
attention. Often the objective conditions of the problem are worse during
this stage than by the time the public becomes interested. The second stage
is 'alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm', where the public suddenly
becomes aware of the evils of a problem as a result of a dramatic event(s). The
alarmed discovery is accompanied by euphoric enthusiasm about society's
ability to solve the problem within a short period of time. The third stage is
'realising the cost of significant progress', which involves the gradual realisa-
tion of the cost of solving the problem. Solving the problem would not only
require significant sums of money but would also require major sacrifices by
large groups in the population. The fourth stage is 'gradual decline of intense
public interest'. As people become aware of the difficulty and the cost associ-
ated with solving a problem they can feel discouraged, threatened or even
bored with the issue. As attention wanes, often another issue enters stage
two of this model and the media takes the public's attention to the new
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