Yeoh Siew Hoon finds kindness and solidarity in Europe towards Asia but not so in the media, and she calls on all in tourism to make just one resolution in 2005.

Travelling through the French countryside over the new year, I was reminded of a few things.

One, how kind people really are. Two, how we are truly a global family. And three, how much damage media can wreak upon already shattered lives.

Even in the smallest towns in Brittany, there were signs saying, "Soliditaire Asie", calling for everyone to show sympathy and support for the victims of the tsunami.

People were asked to light candles and offer prayers during new year's eve in Paris and throughout the country. France, like other European countries, was not spared the effects of the tsunami. It too mourned its dead as did Sweden, Germany and Great Britain.

This is not an Asia-only disaster, it is a global disaster.

Hotelier friends from South America, North America and Europe called me, to express their support after reading my last column, "The day we were emotionally hijacked" (click here) on this website.

The world is mobilized around the disaster. My American friend told me that several billion were raised in one day. Another friend called me to tell me they were sending gallons of water over to Aceh.

Funds are being set up by every man and his dog. There's not a day I do not read of yet another drive to raise funds – from Singapore to London to Toronto.

Those reminders of human kindness and the connection we have as global citizens move me.

The media reports I see though move me in another way. As a journalist, I understand and respect the job media has to do – to report the news.

But in today's world of 24-hour blanket coverage, the pressure for instant updates and immediate reports and the need to sell newspapers and score high ratings, media does not only report the news, it sensationalises and blows things out of all proportion.

The television coverage and newspaper headlines are, to me, as horrifying as the pictures they show.

I believe that the 24-hour television coverage that is being given to the tsunami and words such as "horrific devastation" (BBC) or "ongoing carnage in Asia (CNN) will do more damage over the short and medium term to lives in Asia, than the instant effects of the tsunami.

If I were someone living in France or Europe or America, who has little knowledge or understanding of the geography and diversity of the region, I can safely say that I will not visit Asia in the coming year.

As someone whose home is in Asia and who has lost friends to this disaster, my heart breaks at the insensitivity and callousness of the international media.

I understand we all have our jobs to do but surely, individual common sense and compassion should prevail. As individuals with values and principles, we must be bigger than our jobs.

Ask me as a professional journalist what the alternative is and I don't have the answer. Ask me though as a human being and I know what the answer is.

So I have watched, from a distance but always connected via Internet, the communications that have come out from the tourism industry in areas affected by the tsunami.

Organisations such as PATA, Asian Trails and East West Siam have moved to control the damage being caused by the media in an attempt to stop the flood of cancellations that are streaming in.

In one of his emails, managing director of East West Siam, Thailand, Vincent Tabuteau, said, "We continue our mailings to Europe to try to reverse the biased reports from TVs which are resulting in an ongoing boycott of Phuket by European tour operators. Some have already diverted charter planes to Caribbean.

"We are trying to help our friends, staff suppliers and family by featuring facts and photos in the hope that product managers and the management team will hold their decisions."

I am proud of such efforts. The past crises that Asia's been through have prepared us for more effective crisis communication.

I fear though that such valiant and individual efforts may be helpless against the tsunami of sensational news coverage. It's like those hundreds of thousands of victims who never stood a chance with those massive waves that hit on December 26.

We in the business know tourism needs to rebound in places such as Phuket, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and the rest of Asia that stands to be swept up in the aftermath of this disaster.

Otherwise, even more lives will be shattered, beyond those who have perished.

Which is why I am calling upon all of us who work in tourism to make TWO resolutions for 2005.

1. Go visit our friends in those places that were affected.
2. Tell a friend to do the same.

Beyond raising funds for the immediate victims, let's go spend our money there, help rebuild communities and prevent further victims that may happen as a result of this media tsunami.

Together, we can make the difference, no matter what media and governments who are issuing travel warnings are saying.




The SHY Report
A regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry by one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, Yeoh Siew Hoon.

Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her company's mission is "Content, Communication, Connection". She is a writer, speaker, facilitator, trainer and events producer. She is also an author, having published "Around Asia In 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries". Her motto is ‘free to do, and be'.
Contacts: Tel: 65-63424934, Mobile: 65-96801460

Five Reasons Why You Should Sponsor The SHY Report ~ Click HERE.