Tourism Images and British Media Representations of South Africa

Abstract

The South African government expected 500,000 international visitors for the 2010 FIFA football world cup. These numbers were significantly reduced, with reports indicating that the global recession, overpricing of tickets and hospitality packages, and increased costs within South Africa's tourist industry were contributory factors. The destination image of South Africa as presented within the British media was also identified by FIFA and the Local Organising Committee as deterring potential visitors, with newspaper hype surrounding fear and uncertainty over safety and security in South Africa noted as a key deterrent for many potential travellers. Discourse analysis of print media coverage of South Africa in four British newspapers—The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mail, and The Daily Star—between January and July 2010 demonstrates how Afro-essentialist, Afro-pessimist and neocolonial representations of the host country and continent promoted images of fear, insecurity and moral panic. These representations employed particular media frames to (re)produce a negative destination image and constituted a crisis of representation more than a representation of crisis.