Shihan (David) Ma graduated with his PhD from the department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management on Fall 2020. His research focuses on Social Media and Tourism Data Analytics, and Climate Change and Tourism.

Chimate Change and Tourism in English-Language Newspaper Publications

Shihan (David) Ma and Andrei P. Kirilenko

Tourism is one of the sectors of the economy that is most dependent on climate, creating multiple vulnerabilities and new opportunities arising with changing climate. Even though the links between tourism and climate have been well researched, this scientific knowledge has not percolated into policies and the ability to act. This disconnect between scientific knowledge and practices is frequently blamed on inadequate climate change communication to the public in mass media. We studied the mass media framing of climate change and tourism by analyzing English newspaper publications worldwide over the past 30 years. The paper presents a Big Data analysis of the content, geographical patterns, and temporal changes in newspapers’ publications on climate change and tourism.

Keywords climate change, tourism, machine learning, content analysis, mass media, big data

More about Shihan...

Shihan has been involved in the tourism field for more than 10 years, as he holds a BA and a MS degree in Tourism Management and Tourism Planning. During this period, he has also worked as a tourism consultant and planner in Shanghai and in Beijing. While working as a tourism consultant, Shihan mostly used secondary data from market surveys, which he was not completely satisfied with. On the other hand, Shihan was mesmerized by the amount of quality and objective data we can get from social media about an individual’s tourism behavior, perceptions, patterns, and spatial movement. Shihan decided to explore these data sets, enthusiastic with the opportunity of dealing with more objective and conclusive information in his research.

Advised by Dr. Andrei Kirilenko, Shihan works in collaboration with him on projects highly industry oriented, using the findings to provide suggestions to marketing and tourism organizations such as DMOs. One of his most recent projects counts with the collaboration of other two EFTI researchers, Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray and Dr. Brijesh Thapa. This project analyzes information from social media such as photos and geolocation to determine the most popular leisure activities in the Lake Texoma area. Through understanding the “hot-spots” in the park, the researchers were able to provide DMOs and tourism planning institutions information for a more targeted and efficient investment, such as more infrastructure and amenities being built in the places where they are most useful for visitors.

Another project Shihan has been working on, in collaboration with Dr. Jin-Won Kim from EFTI as well, is funded by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and seeks to understand how tourists affect local traffic. They analyze data from social media and geolocation to understand tourists’ travel patterns and travel flow. With this project, they plan to provide suggestion on urban and transportation planning to create a better flow for residents and tourists alike.

Another focus of Shihan’s research is on Climate Change and Tourism. One of his projects analyzes worldwide newspapers from over 30 years. The project highlights 15 main topics, and how these topics dynamics vary over time and in different countries. One of the interesting findings of the study is that the United States is not so enthusiastic on Climate Change publications as United Kingdom and Australia.

Shihan is also active on conferences and thankful for the EFTI’s contribution though matching funds.  In the past years he has attended the TTRA (Travel and Tourism Research Association) and the AAG (Association of American Geographers) events, where his studies were presented and well received by like-minded researchers.