The role of tourism journalism in the promotion and development of global tourism was the focus of a meeting held Friday in Tangier as part of the activities of the FIJET Academy For Young Journalists.
During a master class, held at the Higher International Institute of Tourism in Tangier (ISITT), speakers have emphasized the important role that tourism journalists play in the promotion of tourist destinations and the development of global tourism, reviewing the challenges facing the sector, including those related to the digital revolution.
Speaking on this occasion, Director General of the Moroccan News Agency (MAP), Khalil Hachimi Idrissi, stressed that tourism is a sensitive sector, on which depends not only the image and reputation of the country, but also tourism revenues, noting that it is also a strategic sector, insofar as an article published on a given country can damage the reputation of the destination or on the contrary create value and strengthen its international influence.
Hachimi Idrissi said that the tourism journalist, who is an integral part of the tourism value chain, should show a sense of responsibility, have a sense of measure and ensure its personal credibility and that of destinations, noting that “an assessment made by a journalist who is not structured in a professional framework can have extremely negative consequences on the destination”.
For his part, former Minister of Tourism, Lahcen Haddad, highlighted the significant changes that are taking place in the tourism sector, especially with the use of new technologies, the industrial revolution and the change of business model whether in accommodation, catering or air and urban transport, noting that the other segments of the tourism value chain and governments should accompany these changes, through the use of digital and technology, following the example of several countries that have succeeded in revolutionizing tourism.
In a statement to M24, the TV channel of continuous information of MAP, president of the Moroccan Association of Journalists and Writers of Tourism (AMJET-Morocco), Senhadji Najib, said that this international event aims to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience between young journalists from different European and American countries, ISITT students, experts and tourism professionals, as well as to strengthen the international influence of Morocco in general, and the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region in particular.
