Adventure tourism accidents and the New Zealand media: An analysis and discussion on implications for future research and the tourism sector : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science at Lincoln University

Abstract

Adventure tourism is a vital part of the New Zealand tourism industry, and has great importance internationally. Due to the risks inherent in adventure activities, accidents will always occur in some quantity during these activities. Such accidents have the potential to cause significant financial losses, injuries, and/or deaths. The media presentation of such accidents can cause further losses to an operator, destination or sector through providing information to prospective tourists. The risks involved in adventure tourism and how tourists and operators react to them have been examined by both academic and government research in the past, and the effects of sensationalised media coverage of specific events have been well-recorded. However, little work has been done on the overall manner in which the media report on adventure tourism accidents. This study identifies key themes and patterns in the reporting of adventure tourism accidents and incidents in the New Zealand print media. This was accomplished through the use of a mixed-methods approach examining a sample of newspaper articles extracted from six years of news coverage. Both the articles within the sample and the accidents that were described were analysed to provide new insight into how these accidents are reported in the New Zealand media. Better knowledge of how adventure tourism accidents are reported in the media enables more effective use of news reports as data for future academic research on risk and accidents. It also informs effective responses to accidents by industry, and greater understanding of policy-making decisions made in reaction to accidents in the adventure tourism sector. Through providing an exploratory examination of the New Zealand print media it is hoped that this study will contribute to a greater understanding of how adventure tourism accidents are reported, and what significance this may have to academic study and the sector’s response to crises.