In four round tables, opportunities for tourist communication in a context of tension in some destinations, as well as tourismphobia, verification of sector news and the future of tourist communication
The first International Communication and Tourism Summit, organized by IFEMA Madrid and the EFE Agency and held within the framework of Fitur, was held to defend, in the words of the President of EFE, Miguel Ángel Oliverthat tourism must be «at the center of economic policies.»
Oliver has also called for the sector to move towards gender equality, labor inclusion, sustainability, innovation and investment; situation for which the president of the Executive Committee of IFEMA Madrid, José Vicente de los Mozos, has defended that this new forum be consolidated «with the ambition of becoming one of the great milestones as source of knowledge for communication and tourism professionals».
The International Communication and Tourism Summit has analyzed, through four round tables, the opportunities for tourism communication in a context of tension in some destinationsas well as the tourism phobiathe verification of sector news against misinformation and the future of tourist communication.
Tourist communication in times of uncertainty
The first of the tables, focused on tourist communication in times of uncertainty, sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism of the Dominican Republichas defended that, to sustain a country brand and develop good communication campaigns, it is necessary to train tourism professionals well.
«It is very important to continue betting on training, secondly, maintain credibility and trust and thirdly, communicate well,» summarized the Minister of Tourism of Cape VerdeJosé Luis Sá Nogueira, who explained that they are hiring professionals for the tourism promotion plan that they are going to execute during the Soccer World Cup 2026in which Cape Verde has qualified for the first time.
He agreed with his table companion, the general director of RV Edipress, a comprehensive communication company specialized in tourism and of the magazine Miradas Viajeras, Fernando Valmaseda: «Professionals in the sector, if they do not have training, will not be able to provide good service or confidence to the traveler.»
Balmaseda recalled that tourist communication «is not an expense, it is an investment», because «everything that is not told does not exist.»
Living off tourism or surviving tourism
The table «Living off tourism or surviving tourism», sponsored by the Secretariat of Tourism of the State of Chihuahua (Mexico), focused on a topic that brings into conflict to the residents of tourist areas versus travelersas the director of Tourism of Portugal in Spain, María de Lurdes Vale, recalled: «When we talk about tourismphobia, we are talking about human beings against other human beings, and we are not talking about tourism,» she lamented, and has also reflected that communication «can no longer be the same nor the way in which we promote tourism.»
For the CEO of Comunicación Iberoamericana and another of the speakers at the table, Diego Barceló, a study must be done of what the local citizen thinks and what bothers him, listen to him and understand what is happening: «Sometimes the solution is much easier than it seems.»
In this debate, the Secretary of Tourism of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Edibray Gómez, has asked to be respectful of traditional communities, native peoples and traditions.
Hoaxes and misinformation in tourism
In «Hoaxes and misinformation in tourism», sponsored by the Brazilian Tourism Agency (Embratur), the general director of Tourism of the Malaga City Council, Jonathan Gómez, has criticized the strategy of some destinations, based on sponsorships to influencers to «compete for virality and ‘likes'», even at the cost of discrediting neighboring destinations.
He recalled that the Andalusian city suffered disinformation campaigns with images of assumptions sharks, which turned out to be herbivoreson the coasts of Marbellafalse content that negatively affected the perception and tourism of the province.
The editor of EFE Verifica Jorge Ocaña has presented at the table real cases of the damage of misinformation to tourism, such as «non-existent destinations«, manipulated images or fraud that generate «false expectations» and economic losses for travelers and cities.
Given this panorama, the editorial manager of Lonely Planet in Spain, Nuria Cabrero, has praised rigor and honesty as «essential values against hoaxes» and has expressed that, for their travel guides, they continue to work as they have done «for 50 years», since within their protocol «everything is contrasted and verified with true information«.
The future of tourist communication
count the stories from local communities and claiming the origins of the areas visited have been the topics that have emerged in the fourth and final table, dedicated to the future of tourist communication and sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism of the State of Nayarit, in Mexico
In it, Juan Enrique Suárez, Secretary of Tourism of Nayarit, explained that the region’s public policy is to vindicate the native population who «for centuries» has preserved the place, and for visitors to understand how do these people live.
In this sense, the head of Public Affairs for Booking Spain and Portugal, Yasmina Laraudogoitia, added that tourists are looking for «a authentic experience«that connects with your personality and with local communities.
In this new paradigm of tourism communication, the president of the Association of Communication Directors (Dircom), Miguel López-Quesada, has explained that the «moves the emotional«and to be effective it is necessary a language «a lot more visual, shorterwhere emotionality weighs over rationality».
This dominance of the emotional over the rational generates «faster responses» when choosing a destination.
A «human» and «hope» sector
The First International Communication and Tourism Summit has closed with the intervention of the executive director of UN Tourism, Natalia Bayona, who has defended that the sector must be «more human» and capable of generating «hope.»
«In times of so much tension, today more than ever we must help the most human sector of all so that, through resilience, through strength, we show what we are made of,» defended Bayona, who has also asked to continue working in the leadership of the industry «not only as a strong economic sector, but also as that sector that generates hope and social cohesion.»
The board of directors is pleased that tourism is going through one of its greatest moments of growth, investment, tourist arrivals and capital flows.
Even so, he warned: «We have to be more and more authentic. We have to recover and go back to the values, to telling the stories.»
The first edition of the International Communication and Tourism Summit was an informative meeting organized by IFEMA Madrid and EFE Agencythe largest news agency in Spanish in the world, and has brought together prominent national and international tourism agents.
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