I’m not a big believer in New Year’s resolutions. This is largely because I’m a foul-mouthed, fat, alcoholic with pathetic will-power, but partly because I think icy, dark January is the worst time of year to be making wholesome pledges.

2010 intentions

I have some vague intentions for the year – focus more on researching stories and destinations I genuinely enjoy, spend more time working on my web projects*, go back to my old school travel methods and rely less on tourist board support. But I don’t want to set anything in stone regarding them.

Surveys

But there is one thing I do want to make a big point of. And that is not taking any surveys and statistics handed to me by tourist boards and PR agencies as gospel. So my resolution is that every time I am sent information saying “X per cent of Ys think Z”, I am going to respond. And I’ll be asking for the sample numbers,  information on who conducted the survey where, as well as the precise wording of the questions.

#PRbullshit

If the sender can’t provide me with this information, I’m not using the survey. Actually, a slight correction: I will use the survey, but only on Grumpytraveller.com and Twitter under the tag of #PRbullshit. And I shall gleefully highlight the best examples of PR bullshittery for all to see…

*That’d be Australiaflightbargains.com and a new city guide site that I’m itching to reveal, but still have about 500 pages of reviews and articles to upload…