An Analysis of the Media Coverage of the Socio-Economic Impacts Generated by Online Tourist Rental Platforms

An Analysis of the Media Coverage of the Socio-Economic Impacts Generated by Online Tourist Rental Platforms

José María Martín Martín, Juan F. Prados-Castillo, Juan de Dios Jiménez Aguilera, José Manuel Guaita Martínez
Copyright: © 2020 |Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/IJEIS.2020070104
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Abstract

This work aims to determine, by means of a press analysis, the positioning of the media on the problems generated by the growth of tourist pressure in city centers and by the expansion of tourist accommodation intermediated online. The main objective of this work is to analyze, classify, and group the main press media and agencies and their positioning with respect to their coverage of socio-economic impacts linked to tourist accommodation platforms. Two different statistical techniques will be used, MultiDimensional Scaling and Hierarchical Ascending Classification (Clustering). Mainly, 24 impacts have been pinpointed, 12 positives and 12 negatives, which shows the great complexity of this phenomenon and the echo that the press makes of it. The impacts related to the ability to retain a dwelling in the tourist area are most frequently reported by the press, the increase in the price of rents/homes, the lack of regulation, the tourist pressure, or depopulation.
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Introduction

For decades, the role of the media in the social perception of reality has been embraced (Berger and Luckman, 1967; Searle, 1995). This role has been consolidated through the use of informative, documentary, fictional or mixed discourses, which are based on linguistic, social, and cultural codes; being the message transmitted by various channels (cinema, radio, television, press, and Internet). Since we cannot access reality directly, the media act as mediators, as is their nature, and make the facts available to us through their specific discourses (Repiso et al., 2013). The nature of the message may be conditioned by several factors such as scarce diffusion or lack of knowledge of certain aspects of the event to be reported, although the content may also be conditioned by the selection of the most popular newspapers.

The media narrate and report on the socio-economic impacts derived from the expansion of online tourist rental platforms, which coincides with an increase in the pressure that tourism puts on city centers (Cossío et al., 2019). This narrative includes a plane of content and a plane of expression, concepts explored by Hjelmslev (1961), Chatman (1978), García (1993), García-García (2006) and other authors. The plane of content refers to the history that is transmitted, to what happened; that is, to the set of events, facts and actions that take place, regarding their referential and ideological aspects, from the perspective of the people (tourists, local inhabitants, politicians, and companies involved). It considers their space (the city centers of the main tourist destinations), their time (currently) and the action (the growth of tourist pressure in the city centers and the growth of online intermediation platforms for tourist apartments). All of this shapes the narrative of the informative content (news, reports, chronicles). The history or events themselves comprise the plane of expression, the discourse either from the perspective of the substance of expression (with its verbal, iconic, sonorous, graphic, 3D material nature...), or from the perspective of the form of expression (the narrative structure that takes into account the selection factors of information, order, duration and frequency, as well as all rhetorical and expressive resources) (Repiso et al., 2013).

As a result of the increase in tourist pressure which is being placed on certain destinations, a feeling of rejection of tourism -or tourismphobia is developing. This feeling is a consequence of the impacts endured by the local population (Martín et al., 2018). Tourismphobia is also fueled by the expansion of Airbnb-like online intermediation platforms, which have introduced an economic activity in residential environments, consequently impacting residents' lives and such sensitive issues as house prices (Martín et al., 2019a). Recent studies have analyzed the impacts derived from these new models of tourism organization (Lee and Trimi, 2018; Revilla et al, 2019), and some have even studied the citizen perception of such models, which will be further discussed later. It is essential to understand this phenomenon of rejection and its causes in order to achieve a model of sustainable coexistence and to be able to effectively develop the necessary legislation.

This work aims to determine, by means of a press analysis, the positioning of the media on the problems generated by the growth of tourist pressure in city centers and by the expansion of tourist accommodation intermediated online. It will determine which effects are considered to be of greater importance and which stance is adopted in relation to them. Additionally, the results obtained will be compared with the evidence provided by studies on the perception of residents regarding the most negative impacts. This analysis, which has not yet been carried out, aims to determine which types of impacts have the greatest media repercussions and which are ignored. Likewise, it will also evaluate the positioning of the media towards these problems. An analysis like this is key since the role of the media is decisive, as explained above, in shaping the public opinion, which in turn can determine the direction of public policies and the very rejection of a rising activity like this one.

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