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Lecturer researches professional travellers
It may seem the most fun you can have with a laptop and a beach umbrella, but travel journalism is a serious business.
That’s according to the first comprehensive study of Australian travel journalists, recently completed by a University of the Sunshine Coast academic.
USC Journalism Lecturer Dr Folker Hanusch interviewed 85 staff journalists and freelancers from the newspaper, magazine and television industries.
Dr Hanusch said his research was prompted by some poor perceptions of travel journalism as frivolous and unduly influenced by the public relations industry.
“Overall my findings demonstrate that Australian travel journalists take their jobs very seriously and display a high ethical standard in carrying them out,” he said.
He pointed out that tourism was not only one of the Sunshine Coast’s biggest industries, it was worth $84 billion a year to the national economy.
“Lifestyle journalism has been a strongly growing area of the news media over recent decades,” he said. “As it proves popular with audiences, this is also an important field for academic inquiry.”
Other findings included:
• The typical Australian travel journalist is a 49-year-old, Australian-born woman with political views slightly left of centre. She has worked for 13 years in the business and is unlikely to speak a second language.
• Australian travel journalists spend about a fifth of their work time actually travelling, with an average of eight domestic and five international trips per year.
• As a group, travel journalists are satisfied with their jobs and enjoy the freedom and benefits. However they are less satisfied with job security and earnings.
• Travel journalists see their role primarily as entertainers providing interesting information and motivating their audiences to travel.
– Julie Gatehouse