Online newspaper discussion forums can be places of great insight as well as leaving you feeling queasy. They are the meeting point between research and PR and this article expresses some of my thoughts and frustrations about one of the more prominent ones in Scotland.
Sometimes I really despair and get angry at the public level of debate on tourism in Scotland. A particular source of my ire lies in the comments section of online versions of our mainstream national newspapers.
As has been discussed recently on this site, it is likely that people research their destination in more than one way online. And, if they anything like me, they might well look at local and national newspapers to get a flavour of what’s going on.
So why in God’s name do people seek to perform the online equivalent of fouling their own nests by exposing these would-be tourists to insults?
Anyone unfortunate enough to have clicked on the perfectly reasonable story last Friday about the recent Scottish Tourism Fourum conference would have been greeted with a reader comment section that contained, amongst other gems:
- [In pole position as comment #1]“WE DON’T WANT ALL THOSE TOURISTS, THANKS!!”
- ” I have been to Scotland three times and have enjoyed every minute. I plan on coming back. However, I have to say that a lot of the anti-American sentiment I read on these threads makes me wonder whether I am making the right decision. I do not want to be an unwelcome visitor.”
- “Don’t be misled by the anti-American sentiment…The anti bit is anti your government…not anti the American people. You cannot help it if your leaders are war criminals and totalitarian nutters”
- ” Tourism is morons catering for morons, all at huge environmental cost.”
- “Stay in Alaska. You have no idea what Scotland is like except through stereotype.”
- “Americans, like no other nationality that visits Scotland, are uniquly single-out for behind-your-back comments, jokes, gossip, ridicule and plain old fashioned hate”
It really is as though someone decided it made good business sense to erect a poster outside their shop that said “F*** off, we hate you and your stinking money.” And, as some (brave) would-be tourists pointed out in the thread, they are at liberty to take their money elsewhere and do just that.
So, two thoughts come out of this.
1. Scotland’s image is being tarnished by the trolls inhabiting these kind of pages. As Torchil Chrichton put it in a different context in the Sunday Herald:
- Try catching up with the future of Scotland on any newspaper readers’ forum and you’ll end up wanting to take a shower. The flipside [of online interactive conversations] is like wading through slurry on a foot-and-mouth infected farm yard.
So what can we do about it? Well, there’s obviously a conflict here between free speech and using that freedom to (figuratively) crap on your own doorstep. Personally, if guests did that in my house I would throw them out.
There is also the argument that these trolls are merely partaking in acts of vandalism and industrial sabotage.
Any suggestions from readers?
2. Amidst the slurry, there is genuine insight. Want to know what North Americans think of Scotland and hear what some of their objections/obstacles to visiting are? There’s plenty in there to give you a good idea:
- “First the prices for Scottish accommodation, hotels, restaurants, and service must be made more competitive to attract the tourist. Right now they are not. The high rollers go to Las Vegas, to Dubai, etc. where they get 7/24 /365 entertainments in luxury accommodations, and tip top service for reasonable cost. Not forgetting that free sunshine.”
- High-Value-Holidays, do not mean high prices for 2** and 3*** accommodation, with lousy service.
- [Advice from a US citizen living in Scotland] “Frankly, if you want far better value for money, far better scenery, less crime, better weather, far nicer people, and so on – skip old, worn-out, ungrateful and take-you-for-granted-and-for-every-pound-in-your-pocket Scotland and go to the US …. yes, travel the US, far and wide. As a second best I’d recommend Chile. IF you absolutely must ‘do’ Europe – ‘do’ Portugal.”
- “A few years ago I decided to organise a 2 week holiday for my family (wife and 3 bairns) in Scotland – places like Skye etc. – I was staggered at the cost. Even staying in modest accommodation and travelling sparingly, we couldn’t get a holiday which remotely compared with a quality holiday abroad. We still haven’t done it, my bairns know more about the Algarve than Argyll.”
- “Used to come up on holiday every year to the land of my mother but have stopped in recent years after being abused for being english by numpties who can’t hear past an accent.”
- “Your holiday in California can be either in the South very sunny, or the North very mild. You can ride Banshees on desert Doons,, Surf, Scuba Dive, Play all year round Golf, Explore wild desert parks, Hike the Redwood trees 3000+years old. Ski in the Sierra’s, Sail in the Pacific, Visit Hombloldt County, see the marijuana crops, See the cotton fields and rice paddys in North, Climb Mt. Whitney 14,000 feet +, Walk in Death Valley 280 feet below sea level HOT, Stagger through our wine country in Sanoma, Hang out in San Francisco see China Town, Horse racing in beautiful settings like Del Mar., Hang glide off La Jolle, HOT air Balloon at 300 to 1000 feet with red wine, Learn to shoot guns, all types guns, Hotels every where very high standards , All types food from every country, reasonable cost., Great all year round weather. And we speak English.”
All of which back up VisitScotland’s research that identifies a perception of a lack of value to be a hindrance to people visiting Scotland.
The example I’ve used above probably isn’t rocket science and the insights would be known to most people within Scotland’s tourism industry. However, I think that amidst the midden that constitutes these online conversations, there are small nuggets of insight if you are prepared to dirty yourself looking for them.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 8:23 pm and is filed under Online customer behaviour, Research tools, Social media measurement, Tourism market research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.