Regional Operations Manager: G Adventures Southern Africa, GP Wentzel, wrote to Tourism Update echoing some other comments we have heard recently – that there are a lot of negative comments on our platform that don’t add anything constructive to a debate.
It has also been suggested that many of the regional and global readers (industry partners) may be put off by this negativity.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree with Wentzel? Let us know: adelem@nowmedia.coza
Read Wentzel’s letter:
“First of all – thank you so much for providing us every day with valuable updates, insights and keeping us up to date. I enjoy the variety (of news) that you offer and how you do it.
I am also writing to you to bring something to your attention and to request that there is maybe an alternative way to doing things.
Very often there are a handful of names that appear underneath articles in the comments section. Now, much as I love debate and varying opinions, I feel that some of these comments have become nothing more than a platform to spew negativity and nullify every single action taken by government and tourism bodies.
There is a point that should be reached where enough negativity is enough.
This is a very fragile time for us all in the tourism industry and you need to also think about readers like myself who will stop reading because all the good work that you do is being detracted from by VERY negative and bitter people.
We as South Africans need to accept a couple of realities. One is the simple fact that we will either succeed together as a nation or we will fail together as a nation – there is no me or I in this…
We have been dealt this hand and what we choose to do every day contributes to this, positively or negatively. For every negative comment that these people write, there are others that are on the frontlines supporting communities and feeding fellow South Africans, regardless of whether they agree or not.
I like that you publish the comment of the week as that is a clear attempt to keep it relevant, accurate and put a more positive spin on things. Switching off the comments will defeat the purpose.
Maybe you can encourage constructive feedback and commentary rather than just a rant of the miserable people out there!?
I found this article on dealing with negative feedback quite interesting.
We will get through this better and tougher as a nation and its tourism collective!
DISCLAIMER: Please note that views expressed in letters, opinion pieces and comments expressed are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of Tourism Update.
