Perceived deficiencies in the provision of climate and weather information for tourism: A New Zealand media analysis

Abstract

Climate and weather are important for tourism and leisure as they impact on destination attractiveness and subsequent visitation. Through an archive analysis of media articles and a content analysis of Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) websites, this paper explores perceived deficiencies in the currently available climate and weather information for tourists in New Zealand. While media reports focused on concern by many RTOs over the poor regional images generated by inaccurate and poorly presented climate and weather data, the RTO websites were found to contain limited climate and weather information. There is considerable potential for RTOs to improve in this respect.

Framing in a contested space: media reporting on tourism and mining in Australia

“…Media analyses have been applied in a wide variety of contexts, including issues surrounding policy and planning (Carson, Schmallegger & Harwood, 2010), environmental risks (Jönsson, 2011), water (Hurliman & Dolnicar, 2012), global warming (Dispensa & Brulle, 2003), health pandemics (Wallis & Nerlich, 2005) and conflict in natural resource management (Bengston & Fan, 1999). There is also a substantial body of media analyses in the tourism literature including, but not limited to, investigations into weather and climate representations of tourist destinations (Wilson & Becken, 2011), the strategic role of state government in relation to marketing and development and the marketing of tourist destinations (Pan, Tsai & Lee, 2011). Relevant to competitive contexts, one study by Champion and Chapman (2005) investigated the competing frames of the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) and the tobacco control group in Australian print news when the pub smoking bans were introduced.…”

Tourists and severe weather – An exploration of the role of ‘Locus of Responsibility’ in protective behaviour decisions

“…The third part of the questionnaire explored tourists' preferences for information sources and type. Inclusion of source and type items was based on insights from the literature (Wilson & Becken, 2011), several relevant websites (e.g. Tourism New Zealand's site) and authors' expert assessment.…”

“…Weather is an essential component of tourism and it strongly influences destination choice (Førland et al, 2012;Rosselló-Nadal, Riera-Font, & Cárdenas, 2011) and preferences , tourist behaviour (Becken, Wilson & Reisinger, 2010;Moreno, Amelung & Santamarta, 2008;Wilson & Becken, 2011), safety (Peattie, Clarke & Peattie, 2005) and satisfaction (Coghlan & Prideaux, 2009). Unfavourable weather can impact negatively on tourism, for example due to severe weather events, which is "any type of weather that can pose a risk to personal safety or property, including thunderstorms, tornadoes, freezing rain, heavy rain, wind, dust storms, blizzards, heavy snowfalls, frost, fog and wind chill" (Silver & Conrad, 2010, p.174).…”

Applying a Comprehensive Contextual Climate Change Vulnerability Framework to New Zealand’s Tourism Industry

“…This poses a significant risk for countries, like New Zealand, which rely on aviation for exports and tourism. Furthermore, since climate is a significant driver of tourist's destination choice (Gómez Martín 2005), this could have implications for New Zealand's tourism industry due to its reliance on outdoor recreation (Wilson and Becken 2011).…”