First research conducted in the area of Fake News apllied to the Tourism Industry Presentation by G Fedeli at GLOBE Conference, Sarasota 2018

1. Giancarlo Fedeli
Researcher, Assist. Lecturer in
Business & Tourism Management
'Fake News‘
in the Travel and Tourism Domain:
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An Investigation of the Phenomenon
and Challenges for the Industry
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2. Agenda
1. Rationale of the study
2. Aim
3. Literature review
4. Discussion
5. Future Research
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3. Defining ‘Fake News’
 Fake news’ are described as:
“.. fictitious information which is
produced to appear as credible
evidence, therefore designed with a
deceiving purpose”
(Brennen, 2017)
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4. Rationale ..
 ‘FAKE NEWS’ have gained momentum and greater
attention in the recent years.
 Diffusion of ICTSs and digital media: democratisation
 Power of ‘Fake News’ is clearly manifest: impact and
implications in public matters (Allcott & Gentzkow,
2017)
 Information at the centre of the phenomenon:
availability, diffusion and trustworthiness
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5. ... Rationale and Aim
Why Tourism and Travel?
 High reliance on Information; life blood (Poon 1985)
 ‘Fake news’ has the potential to:
- impact opinions, expectations and behaviour of tourism
consumers;
- manipulation of information to benefit or damage of tourism
operators or destinations.
 Scarce and recent extant literature from few disciplines
 Conceptual paper, first of its kind: better understand
phenomenon and potential implications for the industry
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6. Lit. review: framing ‘Fake News’
 Fake news’ have always existed in history; evidence
dating to the 8th century (Berkowitz & Schwartz, 2016).
 Fake news in current socio-political times, globalizing
and technologizing landscapes, is something new.
 Named word of the year in 2017 by Collins dictionary
(Flood, 2017)
 Study reviewing 34 academic articles between 2003 and
2017 found different forms of ‘fake news’ manifest based
on the two dimensions of :
 facticity & deception
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7. Forms of ‘Fake NEWS’ Authors
News satire and parody Tandoc, Lim, & Ling,
2018
Propaganda based on fabrication
and manipulation
Intentional reporting mistakes Allcott and Gentzkow
(2017)
Rumors based on unofficial news
article
Conspiracy theories
False statements
Biased or misleading reports
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8.  Definition is blurred and not categorical
 Factually inaccurate news articles, spread
online through mass media and social
networks with the assistance of
advertisement generators, and (un)knowing
netizens
 In practice, the evidence and the effects deriving
from different forms of ‘fake news’ is largely diffuse
and represents a controversial topic
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9. ‘Fake news’: an On-line phenomenon
 WWW, Internet, On-line social platforms have
facilitated the progression of uncensored opinions and
claims by individuals or groups ...
 ... but also blurred the boundaries to distinguish the
truth and reliable sources from divergent, constructed
realities
 Social media are playing major role
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11. Effects of ‘Fake News’
 Several studies have demonstrated that exposure to
‘fake news’ can shape people’s perceptions,
opinions and behaviours to the extent it may
affect even broader constructs such as political trust
(Balmas, 2014).
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12. Fake news got too real ..
 Well-known examples:
 Pope endorsing Donald Trump;
 The Pizzagate scandal, conspiracy theory went viral
during 2016 US presidential election cycle
 Facebook
 Using fake news websites, among other platforms, these
gained immense traction in spreading misinformation.
 Back to TOURISM …
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13. Evidence from Tourism ‘Fake News’
 Lithuanian national tourism agency responsible for
using images unconnected to the country to
promote the Baltic state as part of an on-line marketing
campaign (BBC, 2017)
 The Bali Development Planning Agency in
Indonesia claimed that various countries were circulating
false statements about the danger of the volcanic
eruption of Mount Agung in Bali, in order to detract
visitors from the island (WARC, 2018)
 In 2017, a very controversial case of a Polish tourist
murdered in Egypt also became a case of public
domain. The discussion of the tragic events became
public on social media, where dozen of Facebook groups
were open, speculations and false statements also on
tabloid news website (Bower, 2017).
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14. Challenges in the tourism domain (1)
 Research Area 1:
Ethical aspects
 Studies consider ethics in media and journalism. Codes of
ethics are adopted
 Fake News = soft news enter the boundaries of journalism=
Hard news
What is the ethical liability of media actors
divulging fake news?
What is the limit to freedom of speech?
Should Fake News in Tourism be considered a
harmless form of entertainment? What the criteria?
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15. Challenges in the tourism domain (2)
 Research area 2:
Marketing of tourism organisation- micro and
macro level.
 Private and public operators
 Victims and winners
Fake news as mendacious advertising?
Should these be permitted as practice in tourism
marketing?
What are the effects of such practices in tourism?
Negative or positive?
How can tourism organisations recover from
negative effects? ... ‘Crisis management’?
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16. Challenges in the tourism domain (3)
 Research area 3:
Impact on tourist’s perception and behavior
 Fair consideration of this aspect in other contexts
 Provision of transparent information is key in tourism,
fake news can alter information dynamics
How do tourism users perceive/deal with Fake
News?
How are perceptions, attitudes, decisions and
behavior affected by the presence of fake news?
If so, are the effects relevant, ephemeral, limited
in time and space?
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17. Challenges in the tourism domain (4)
 Research area 4:
Security and regulations
 Security and safety issues can derive from fake news (e.g.
destination level)
 Social media–unlike print, video, or radio news—is
not regulated by the federal government.
What threats and risks to tourism organizations?
What systems can be adopted as protection? Are
regulations needed?
Is cyber security relevant?
Is tourism different than other sectors?
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18. Suggested approaches
 Surveying: views and opinions
 Case studies
 Questionnaires and quantifiable data
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19. To conclude:
 Raise consideration and encourage discussion
about several conceivable implications related to:
- Tourism organisations;
- Users (visitors and tourists);
- Marketers.
- Both theoretical and practical aspects around the
diffusion of the phenomenon at the centre of this
research
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20. …
 The tourism sector represents a peculiar area
of study as it combines several disciplines
interrelated with each other.
 The phenomenon of ‘fake news’ merits
attention by tourism academics as it is has not
been directly studied in the light of the most
recent developments in technology and
societal changes.
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21. Thank you for your attention
Your comments & questions are most
welcome
Giancarlo Fedeli
e-mail Twitter
gfe2@gcu.ac.uk GiancarloF1
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