Tourist journalism is a branch within journalism, which aims to inform, investigate or denounce in everything that refers to tourism. It is understood as tourism, the whole spectrum that is generated from the activity that people do when planning a trip, when they travel and / or when they stay in a different place to their residence. And while it is true that this real or potential displacement of people drives the interaction between supply and demand, tourism is not only an economic activity, it is a global discipline that also includes social, environmental, educational, political, anthropological, etc.
This, in turn, makes it possible to deduce that entrepreneurs and tourists are not the only social actors involved in tourism, but also governments, local populations, non-profit organizations and the media.
Although this specialization has barely more than half a century of existence, from its origins and until today, it has been confused and misinterpreted its application by the majority of the journalists. The common people believe that tourism journalism should disseminate and promote, collaborating with destinations and companies there installed; When in fact, advertising is contrary to the ethics of journalism.
The objectives of the World Travel Journalism Organization are:
- To revalue and professionalize the tourist activity in the field of communications and journalism, informing society about everything that happens in the area of tourism, without responding to other interests more than those of plurality, inclusion and life in democracy.
- Investigate and denounce all those cases where the environment, local populations, tourists and any other situation where there are irregularities and illicit within the tourism sector are being investigated.
- Encourage and support the assimilation of technological advances in the tourist press.
- Participate in the production of journalistic contents that allow democratizing access to information.
- To promote the social recognition of the tourist journalist who is responsible for the tourism system, through decorations, prizes and other individual and collective incentives.
- Defend journalists in the legal and ethical practice of the profession, in the right of access to sources and in the fulfillment of their work of information, guidance and opinion.
- Organize congresses, meetings and / or interdisciplinary conferences related to tourism and journalistic activity.
- Maintain collaborative relationships with other social organizations and institutions.
- To foster relations of solidarity and cooperation among tourist journalists around the world, promoting links with international journalistic organizations and their counterparts in other countries.
Miguel Ledhesma
Managing Director
WORLD TRAVEL JOURNALISM ORGANIZATION 