Press media coverage effects on destinations – A Monetary Public Value (MPV) analysis

The present study examines the extent, source and nature of reporting about Spain as a tourist destination among Swiss German language newspapers. By testing a method based on the Monetary Publicity Value (MPV) the media coverage is quantified in order to arrive at a positive image of Spain among German Swiss print press. Results confirm that: a) familiarization-trips account for an important volume of positive news; b) culture and travel news are predominantly positive, a trend not pointed out by journalist researchers because generally they focus mainly on political or disaster reporting; c) effectiveness of destination image management among print media can be measured and therefore targeted.