The Sunday Mail
Charles Mavhunga
The palatability of tourism product brands is anchored in information. However, in situations where the discourse of democratic values of freedom of speech and freedom of information is not guided by principles of collaborative thinking, patriotism and individual ambassadorial sentiments, the brand is exposed to information nebulousness.
In the context of Zimbabwe’s tourism brand, this article presents constructs of information, disinformation and misinformation to guide both domestic and foreign tourists in the global world to make informed decisions when visiting Zimbabwe’s lovely resort centres.
Zimbabwe has five UNESCO-registered World Heritage sites, namely, Great Zimbabwe, Khami Ruins, Matobo Hills, Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls) and Mana Pools.
The named resort centres position Zimbabwe in the class of the Great Wall in China, Bruges in Belgium, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Nubian Monuments in Egypt and Yellowstone National Park in the United States, among others. Zimbabwe’s tourism brand occupies world-class status as evidenced by the UNESCO World Heritage Sites registration.
The natural wonders in Zimbabwe are a gift to the country and remain an inspiration not to be missed by today’s progressive minds in the global world.
The touching points for the country’s tourism brand are embedded in the culture of Zimbabweans, which is naturally peaceful and friendly. Historically, Zimbabweans are God-fearing, value human life and are friendly to all.
They love and respect visitors, and offer visitors an awesome experience of tranquillity. However, the rise of new media information, or computer communication technologies is a new turning point for the country’s tourism brand in terms of information dissemination.
The new media source is characterised by digital interactivity, open-minded creativity, data manipulation, modularity, hybridity and virtuality, thus exposing the country’s tourism brand to vulnerabilities of misinformation and disinformation.
Holiday planners are, therefore, exposed to a multitude of information in the digital sphere, and the degree of vulnerability to becoming victims of misinformation and disinformation is very high.
Holiday planners now need skills in media literacy to actively analyse, deconstruct, synthesise and evaluate the digital information exposed to them and make informed decisions that are derived from credible sources.
It is, therefore, against this background that this article is meant to clear the fragments of misinformation and disinformation that may block potential tourists from visiting Zimbabwe and miss the tranquil atmosphere of the country.
This article seeks to plough through the dictates of media literacy, thereby assist both domestic and foreign tourists to develop the skill to detect indicators of ironic expressions, and the ability to distinguish misinformation or disinformation from facts about Zimbabwe’s tourism brand.
Credible sources of information for a country should include the Government and its agencies.
For example, in Zimbabwe, the official source of information with regard to the safety of tourists in the country is the responsible Government ministry and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority,
However, the new media sources are drawing people to unfiltered, up-to-the-minute information coverage in competition with official and credible government information sources.
Due to this situation, the people tend to respond to rumours, fake news and fake stories. This is meant to erode the people’s trust in official sources.
Official information is strategic and fact-based. It is produced and evidenced by officials on duty. The information withstands public scrutiny and counter-arguments because it is from a Government authority.
In Zimbabwe, the Tourism ministry is the nodal agency in charge of formulating national policies and programmes and coordinating activities of the Central Government and its agencies, and the private sector for the development and promotion of tourism in the country.
In the same vein, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority is incorporated to promote tourism, engage in planning research and development, and ensure enforcement of expected tourism standards.
To establish the credibility and veracity of digital media information (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, among other social media sources)about tourism brands in Zimbabwe, the source must be guided by an official authority, as we have already noted.
However, despite the competency of credible sources in information dissemination, official information is at risk of being overshadowed by misinformation and disinformation originating from fake news purveyors, hyper-partisan organisations and individuals, self-proclaimed satirical news sites, influential content news creators and average citizens.
Some social media users respond to official information posts and updates by arguing against the guidance in efforts to promote personal agendas through exaggerated or misleading narratives to keep the personal agenda alive.
This is the problem of Zimbabwe’s sanctions imposed by the United States of America, misleading narratives are used and continue to be used to hoodwink the American Government to keep the sanction button pressed in response to information which is not official and often misleading.
Many studies from credible researchers in communication have established that negative and often misleading information spread more rapidly than credible and official communication.
The nature and character of people that use social media engage in the excitement of sharing misleading content, rumours, spurious photos and cropped pictures to attract attention and legitimise the misinformation in competition with official guidance.
This means in a delicate industry such as tourism, clients are lost in thin air. Let me go deeper to look into the character of misinformation and disinformation.
Misinformation/disinformation
Social media is the carrier of misinformation and disinformation.
In a situation where collaborative thinking and patriotism of the people are in short supply, social media is rich with misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation refers to inaccurate information which is intended to deceive.
Rumours fall into the category of misinformation and this means unverified and instrumentally relevant information statements in circulation, which arise in the context of ambiguity. Social media support rumours through claims of statistical evidence to make the message appear true.
Social media users misinform the public by pairing real visuals with misleading texts, reframing or cropping visuals to express a point of view, manipulating visuals to present a misleading reality, and fabricating content by pairing manipulated images with manipulated texts.
The deceptive information is allowed to circulate to support doctored photos and doctored texts. This means news media today demands media literacy because official information now competes with specious commentary, counter arguments, false narratives, rumours, and conspiracy theories for people’s attention.
Collective belief in misinformation is a disaster for the country because legitimate information is distracted, erodes trust in Government agencies, and affects the attitudes of people to comply with official guidance.
The logical fitness of social media users who are perpetrators of misinformation and disinformation is traced from paranoia theory, which states that people who grow up with a damaged self-concept often use self-inflicting themes of oppression, and persecution to justify the application of misinformation weaponry in self-defence.
Observable features of paranoid behaviour in social media include feelings of mistrust of credible sources, suspicion of credible sources, hypervigilance and extremism.
Extremism is a fundamental component of misinformation and disinformation behaviours and is characterised by exhibits of intolerance, moral absolutes, and conspiratory beliefs hence the need to spread rumours to defend one’s own position. Behaviourists have established that paranoids struggle to work socially with others, and do not enjoy close relationships.
This article, therefore, holds that social media is vulnerable to being used by paranoids who are active to misinform and disinform the global world about the reality of issues.
In the tourism industry, the active participation of paranoids is therefore dangerous because official information about the safety of tourists in the country is suppressed by misinformation and disinformation, hence the call and appeal to the Government of Zimbabwe to observe and recognise the importance of the Patriotic Act to protect the image of the country from paranoids who are ready and active to use social media to intentionally suppress official information and official guidance in order to promote personal agendas in the political field of leadership.
Zimbabwe today is under sanctions that are harming the country’s tourism brand, and the basis of the sanctions is brewed from underlying issues that are related to incorrect information, insufficient information, opportunistic disinformation, and outdated information and that is why the United Nations, SADC and the African Union failed to support the legitimacy.
The sanctions have a personal agenda to inflict pain on the country in order to place certain individuals into political leadership.
The resulting falsehoods and narratives today inflict malicious damage to the country’s service industry. It is, therefore, against this background that this article advocates for the enactment of policies and legal support to promote collaborative thinking and patriotism, to maintain the truth about the beauty of the country’s tourism industry in Zimbabwe.
In the absence of a patriotic act, officials in the tourism industry should be at work 24/7 to counter the effects of paranoids on social media who are busy distorting the country’s image by overshadowing official guidance by disseminating rumours.
In concluding remarks, this article holds the view that the tourism brand in Zimbabwe is well cultured, supportive, and god-fearing, but paranoids have to be watched out on social media, they are at work.
The beauty of this country is the envy of many, and that is why Cecil John Rhodes captured it through colonisation after observing its beauty and tranquillity, but freedom fighters got spirited and reversed the gears of colonisation, and now the country has engaged the gears of development, but social media paranoids are cropping up because the Patriotic Act is the missing link.
Charles Mavhunga has published textbooks in business enterprising skills and articles in Indexed International Journals. He is currently a PhD student in Management at Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE). He can be contacted on:[email protected]
