No free lunch for media at ATF

Yeoh Siew Hoon, who covered ASEAN Tourism Forum in Singapore for TravelMole TV looks at the media sideshow that accompanied the main event.

Being debated and discussed in the media was the Singapore Tourism Board (STB)’s decision not to host journalists to this ASEAN Tourism Forum.

As someone who used to attend a lot of trade shows, it often puzzled me as to why ATF remained one of the few events that would fully host journalists.

When I was working fulltime on travel trade publications, my company had to pay my fare to events like World Travel Market or ITB. And we all know how expensive those events could be.

We did it because we felt those shows were worth attending for the editorial coverage we could generate, the advertising dollars it could bring and the contacts we could make.

In other words, these shows had a commercial value for which businesses, including publications, were willing to pay.

And because the company paid, the bosses would ensure whoever went worked for the trip – reporters had to produce trip reports and sales people had to write up sales reports after each trip. As a result, the editorial coverage was always extensive and often lasted several months.

ATF, because of its unique status of being largely a government-run event and because it rotated every year, has never had to prove its commercial value to media. Each year, the rules change as successive government hosts try to outdo the other in staging the event.

This time, the STB decided to get tough on the media rules. There had been complaints in past ATFs about hosted journalists who came but did not attend the assigned press conferences or events. There had also been question marks raised about certain journalists who seemed to float in and out of ATF every year with few people ever knowing whether they produced any copy.

I remember similar comments in the past about buyers, that some were not qualified, they did not produce business but kept getting invited back to make up the numbers.

Various ATF hosts took different steps to address the buyer issue but none ever dared to tackle the media component. All feared upsetting the power of the pen.

And they were right. The STB came in for a lot of flak from the media. During its press conference, one writer asked a question directly related to the hosting policy even though the event was about Singapore’s tourism performance. Hell hath no fury like a journalist scorned.

In the end though, the STB was right to tackle the media issue. It is time ATF, after 25 years, proved its commercial value. It’s human nature that we only appreciate something when we pay for it. If we are given something free, we rarely give it respect. (STB’s only mistake was making its decision known too close to the event, with some journalists claiming the late notice made it impossible for them to plan their trips. For sure, the tourism board has learnt some hard lessons from this experience – when you deal with a media issue, you’d better be prepared.)

Talking to buyers and sellers at ATF, it was evident that most were indifferent to the media squabble.

The sellers have long been the ones paying for the costs of organizing ATF with their booth fees. They were sponsoring buyers for a long while until the rule was introduced when buyers had to pay a registration fee. Sellers applauded then and they are applauding now.

As one tour operator said, “I welcome it. Everyone should pay their own way to a trade show. We do, so should others.”

As they say, the first cut is the deepest and the Singaporeans have taken first cut. Let’s hope the next ATF host takes the opportunity to follow through.

* Yeoh Siew Hoon’s regular columns appear each week at The Transit Café (www.thetransitcafe.com)

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