3 cesiri englishfor tourism ch3 (4)

8/13/2019 3 CESIRI EnglishFor Tourism CH3 (4)

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Universit Ca Foscari di Venezia Facolt di Economia

CdL:[EM9] SVILUPPO INTER-CULTURALE DEI SISTEMI TURISTICI

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Insegnamento di Lingua Inglese(6 CFU) English AND tourism. English FOR tourism[EM9015]

Prof.ssa Daniela CESIRI

CHAPTER THREE

TOURISM:BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICEPART TWO

1. In troduction: touri sm and adverti sing

The LoT can be associated to the activity of advertising since it aims at promoting a leisure activity,

a place, an attraction to the public. Indeed, advertising can be defined as a companys external

communication (Janoschka 2004: 15).

In medieval times, advertising was accomplished by the town criers who loudly announced

their goods to potential customers. At this time tourism was still to appear but we might recall long

journeys to visit the Holy Land and pilgrimages across Europe to visit sacred places (explain).

With the invention of the printing press in around 1445, the basis for mass media

communication were established. Indeed, after the Industrial Revolution (18th-19thcenturies) tradecards and flyers were massively used not only to advertise products as also to promote places of

leisure to visit. These ads were addressed to a well-to-do public (bourgeois tourism) who was

starting to cross the borders of their own land not only for trade as also for leisure (imitating the

Grand Tour of Europe of the aristocracy). Indeed, the advantages of the press resulted also in the

expansion of readership and the development of a system of distribution which increased the

diffusion on newspapers which are the oldest existing traditional mass media.

FIGURE 1. A 19th-century example of travel advertisement in America.

During the period between the 1700s and the 1800s there was an increase of more than one million

copies sold. In 1830, with the advent of the boulevards press (the so-called penny press),

advertisements (ads) were placed in the press accompanied by a wider distribution and larger access

to target groups. Early print ads were mainly written language based. Tourism ads in particular

consisted in a few lines descriptions of places which usually quoted authoritative sources

(especially travelogues and travel diaries accounts of great personalities).


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Ads and mass tourism in modern terms were developed especially in America and Britain two

countries in which the culture of travelling was quite widespread (in America as a consequence of

early British influence).

In the twentieth century radio and TV played an essential role in the making of modern

tourism ads. Evolution in contemporary art (pop art in particular) paved the way to image-orientedtourism ads. This kind of tourism ad is still influenced by previous stages as it gives more

importance to the description of the place than to the picture (FIGURE 2).

FIGURE 2. Ad promoting a resort in Germany.

FIGURE 3. Ad promoting the Cote dAzur in France.

In FIGURE 3, instead, the message is mostly iconic and language is used to explain the picture. In

the two cases, however, a tendency of the modern tourist texts emerges, that is they explain

explicitly the reason why people should go to that place or the other.

Indeed, since the 1950s both ads and tourism communication share a common and parallel

evolution since they were found to work on different levels of communication. The diversity ofusage, functions and perspectives converges in one main concept: communication and marketing.


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Tourism language, in this perspective, is meant to inform a large number of people about a place or

a special event, taking an informative nature.

2. The LoT as a form of communication

The information process in tourism communication like in any kind of human forms of

communication involves a sender (someone who creates and transfers the information), a

receiveror audience(large groups of people who are the object of the senders message) and the

message itself. The sender might be a travel agency, a Tourist Board from a public institution or

even a company. The ways a message is conveyed are strictly connected to the kind of audience the

message is meant to (print ads, TV and radio commercials, web ads are addressed to specific groups

of people). The audience might be constituted by a large (huge) group of people (e.g. the youth

communities) or restricted groups (e.g. families).

In order to be effective, tourism communication must be not only informative but also

persuasive. One of the strategies to attain persuasion is giving the reason why that audience should

choose that particular place/attraction. The message, then, must include this proposition

concentrating on a places advantage, turning it into an exclusive and desirable destination. This

kind of message is created artificiallybecause nothing is left to chanceand is often emotionally

loaded because it must appeal to personal reasons and expectations of the clients who will choose

the destination.

FIGURE 4. Tourist ad promoting Jamaica.

In FIGURE 5, the message conveys the idea of escape from daily life, offering a tropical, isolated

paradise. Reasons of attraction towards the destination might be the isolation of the island, the

tropical sea, the beautiful woman. Clients can also desire to be at the womans place and enjoy that

landscape. The text reinforces this message, adding an element of freedom and persuading the

tourists to book the holiday no matter their reasons, which might be discovered upon arrival.

The purpose of advertising (in general marketing as in the language of the tourism industry) is

usually to change or influence attitudes (Jefkins and Yadin 2000: 15 in Janoschka 2004: 18). Oneway in which ads and tourism language try to influence their audience is explained by the AIDA


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concept. Indeed, in order for the promotional message to be successful, the structural features of a

tourist text must meet the classical requirements of advertising discourse.

The acronym AIDA stands for the keywords Attention, Interest, Desire and Action expressing

the following concept:

capture Attention

maintain Interest

create Desire

get Action

This concept dates back to 1898 and was created by Elmo Lewis. Despite its age, it is still effective

and incredibly modern, maybe because it summarizes well and in a simple but precise way the main

aspects of advertising communication. The AIDA concept describes a mental process in the

audience in which the successful achievement of one stage initiates the next. In other words, the aim

of a tourist text (its instruments and message) is to attract perspective tourists attention. Tourists

are made aware of the existence of a particular place and the attractions and facilities it offers. In a

second step, it is important to awaken interest in the destination in a way which creates a desire for

it. At this point the third step is achieved: desire is an emotionally-led appeal responsible for the

buying impulse that leads to the booking process, which is the action required by the tourist

promotional text. In present-day tourist texts, these steps are achieved both linguistically and

graphically, thus realizing persuasion through the combination of rational information (language)

and emotional appeal (pictures and colours, but also music and video).

3. The Properties of the LoT

If we put together all these characteristics, we can easily distinguish the LoT from alternative forms

of communication. At the same time, they help us to shape the language used by tourism itself to

communicate with customers andthuscreating more effective promotional texts.

These properties are partly shared with other forms of language and were inspired by the work

and definitions given by a series of important scholars, such as Bhler (1934), Jakobson (1960),

Vestergaard and Schrder (1993). According to these theories, the LoT shows different properties,

which are often present at the same time in the tourist text; they are divided as follows: Four main properties:

1. Functions;2. Structure;3. Tense;4. Magic.

Additional four properties:1. Lack of sender identification;2. Monologue;3. Euphoria;4. Tautology (= repetition, redundancy).


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3.1The LoT properties: FUNCTIONSLike language in general, the LoT has different functions which might be representation, expression

and appeal. If we emphasise one of this function, we focus on the different actors of the

communication (message, sender, tourist). For example, in the case of representation, our attentionwill focus on the message in the tourist text; if we focus on expression, then we put our attention on

the sender of the message which might be a travel company, hotel chain(s), a tourist board, etc.

Focus on appeal means that our attention is addressed towards the future tourist, the

customer/client.

This concept can be further expanded by individuating other sub-functions (or more

specialised functions) shared by communication in general (even marketing/business

communication) and the LoT. Indeed, the three main functions (representation, expression, appeal)

are further extended to five more complex functions of the LoT:

1. The expressive function refers to the sender of the message and his/her attitudes to the text.They are usually expressed through the use of interjections and emphatic speech. In tourist texts

the author is generally anonymous but his/her presence is implicit to the creation of the text.

2. The conative or directive functionrelates to the receiver of the message. In this case, languageis used to influence the tourists behaviour, for example by using the vocative or the imperative.

In this function the function of social control of the tourist message is particularly evident.

3. The referential or informational functiondeals with the meaning of the message. In the fieldof tourism the sender conveys new information to the tourist, usually by using a narrative stylewhich can report, describe or confirm the information inserted in the message itself.

4. The phatic or interactional function uses language to create or prolong a contact with thereceiver of the message and involves reference to the tourists emotions and to the creation of a

sort of complicity between the creator of the text and the receiver.

5. The poetic function refers to the value of words and uses linguistic devices such as rhymes andmetaphors.


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FIGURE 5. Webpage from the official French Tourist Board (http://www.francetourism.com/)Part 1.

For example, in FIGURE 5, the French Tourist Office is advertising one of Frances historical

castles. Here, the author is implicit but is present through a general greeting at the top of the page.

The first function is represented through the repetition of emphatic speech, especially in the use of

adjectives, adverbs and other linguistic features (beautiful, amongst the best in the world,

handsomely, boasting). Indeed, an emotive register is particularly frequent and popular in these

kinds of text. Indeed, experts noticed that the LoT show an obsession with breaking records, and the

insertion of non-official classifications considered to be amongst the best in the world).

Considering the conative function, there is some indirect address to specific types of

customer, such as the reference to the golf course.

FIGURE 6. Webpage from the official French Tourist Board (http://www.francetourism.com/)Part 2.

However, going on with the reading of the advertising page (FIGURE 6), we can notice the use of

we to maintain communication and establish complicity with the tourists. Unusually for a tourist

text of this kind there is no use of imperatives but the invitations are left implicit in the description

of the castles facilities.


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The referential function is usually the most important function in tourism communication as it

is meant to provide information on the advertised destinations. In this case, the objective description

is only in the first paragraphs, the following ones describing facilities, amenities, etc. are reported in

a general way and filtered through the authors viewpoint.The poetic function is almost absent as

this text is primarily meant to be informative, as if just the presentation of the castles tourist offer issufficient to promote the site.

Another procedure can be applied to analyse this kind of tourist text, and brochures in particular.

The brochure is considered to have five stagespresent at the same time and which all contribute to

the process of sight sacralization:

1. Naming stage: the site is authenticated or marked s worthy of presentation. There is theadmission of being tied up with history. The information about the site is given, followed by

the description of the surroundings of the castle and its facilities.

2. Framing and elevation stage: the site is presented as open to visitors as a rare beauty.3. Enshrinement stage (enclosing in a specific context): attention is focused on even more

valuable attractions contained within the boundaries of the property and its immediate

surroundings with a reflection on the historical background of the place.

4. Mechanical reproduction stage: reference to the possibility of buying souvenirs and othermemorabilia.

5. Social reproduction stage: reference to specific groups of tourists can be made in the hopethat tourists will identify themselves with the different facilities offered and with the site

itself.

3.2 The LoT properti es: STRUCTURE

In the LoT, communication is successful to the extent that no single factor is emphasised at the

expense of the remaining functions and properties. The same is valid for the structure of text using

the LoT. This property is particularly valid in the case of tourist ads and brochures.

In the case of ads we have a recurrent basic format: slogan-photograph-text-emblematic

theme-purchasing formula. This structure is meant in particular to fit the AIDA requirements for

advertising discourse (capture attention, maintain interest, create desire, get action).


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Another example comes from brochures which are usually targeted to specific travellers. Figure 8

shows a snapshot from the brochure Nautical stations in Spain issued by the official tourist board

of the country, recognisable by the official logo in the bottom lower corner on the left. The role of

the text is minimal, the image must convey the main as well as the secondary meanings which give

the idea of freedom, relaxation and activities that everyone could do without having a previoustraining or specific equipment.

In this kind of brochure for example, the LoT attempts to lure potential clients, concentrating

on motivational push factors (the tourists psychological needs) before presenting the pull factors

(attributes of the destination) since the former are prior to the latter. In this context, attention

focuses on locations which promote self-actualization, social interaction andquite often sexual

innuendos.

A brochure picture has immediate effect which might also be culturally neutral, for this reason

in order to achieve promotional successthe brochure must provide a structure which is capable

of transforming the language of objects to that of people and vice versa.

In the first case (FIGURE 7), communication from objects to people is left to the pictures

themselves with the use of pictures having a metaphoric and allusive meaning. The advertiser looks

into the motivational push of the client and conveys it into pictures. Usually, there is no use of

people in the message but only of landscapes.

In the second case, which is the case of the Spanish brochure, people are converted into

objects. They are placed in the picture so that their properties are transferred symbolically into the

product. In this context, the object is transferred to that destination and becomes its iconic symbol.

On the other hand, nature etc. are shaped according to the tourists needs and imagination, hence

producing a somewhat fictional portrait of that destination, even in the green tourist/nature tourist

field. The object then takes different meanings and becomes polysemic. This explains why inbrochuresphotographs usually exceed the written word.

3.3 The LoT properties: TENSE

The LoT usually represents travel through space. However, it represents also travel through time,

from the everyday present into the past andsometimeseven the future. The journey is meant as

an escape from the unattractive, materialistic contemporary world with a resulting alienation which

strongly push the tourist towards a longing for distant places as well as for far off times.Tourist texts ads and brochures in particular often reflect this temporal theme. Indeed,

they advertise trips to simple and remote places which emphasise the antiquity (see Tunisia) and the

changeless nature of a place. This attitude is accentuated and manifested in a hyper-reverential

attitude towards all that is old, the object being an archaeological site or a souvenir.

In this kind of language there is the accompanying notion that the new spoils the old, hence

the continuous reference to attractions which constitute the last or the best of their kind.

On the opposite side, the attitude might be hyper-reverential towards a future dominated by super

technology. This is exemplified in particular by this Disneylands brochures in which a fantasy past

goes along with a fantasy future.


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FIGURE 9. Brochure promoting Disneyland Paris 15thAnniversary.

Tourist time is considered as out-of-ordinary and qualitative in opposition to the ordinary and

quantitative time of everyday life. Thus, recreational and diversionary tourists who seek only a

playful break from routine will tend to experience vacation time as a flow, those tourists who seek

representation of another reality will experience the perception of pilgrimage across time, that is

eternity in time.

Indeed, the perception of time (and its representation in tourist texts) differs according to the

activities preferred by the clients. Persons who look hotels comforts and facilities come under less

temporal constraints than sightseers tourists. Those who prefer package tours are more strict to

timetables than explorers. The latter deliberately avoid the tourism establishment and may want to

stay in the adventurous destination for months or years.

However, the volume and speed of present-day mass tourism is combined with a tendency of

the host authorities to present attractions in a way that they appear to be more authentic and

accessible than reality, thus tending to reduce the quality of tourist time, frustrating the requests of

those tourists who seek profound experiences through travel.

In order to meet these requirements, the tourism industry must warrant that the promotional

language it uses does not reveal any of the tourist time management defects. Instead, it tries to

present the most agreeable characteristics of quality time.

In order to achieve this goal, the LoT uses a special strategy which is called denial of time. In

this perspective, a holiday is a symbolic inversion of everyday life in which the weekday becomesthe weekend. The worker who is subject to rigid timetables is transformed into a person of leisure,

doing nothing but with style, having breakfast in bed, sleeping all day, partying most of the night.

One example might come cruise trips promotional campaigns. In these cases, however, freedom is

only apparent as we know that certain events, like evening shows and massage services are planned

and sometimes must be booked in advance like excursions, for instance.

In this perspective, travellers are not escaping work but also compulsive time. Tomorrow

becomes an invisible entity compared to the present moment. This is reflected even in language

since the present tense is used instead of the future. The tourist is apparently free to do whatever

she/he wants, free from temporal constraints.


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This kind of discourse is targeted at the individual, as if only one person is going on cruise

and will be almost alone on board or with the crew and other passengers at his/her disposal.

Another strategy is called time as standing still or eternal time. The idea of timelessness is

reinforced particularly where the setting or the people are exotic and strange. In this kind of

discourse, the travel experience has already taken place but present tense is used and serves to fulfilnot only the idea of timelessness but also to involve the reader.

This situation mirrors a present event but is more tolerable than ordinary present by

presenting a situation so different from compulsive time. This is usually explained in terms of myth,

with the use of cultural stereotypes and archetypes (usually elements of the local landscape) which

are presented as alternatives to the pressure of modern urban life.

FIGURE 10. Example of timelessness

In FIGURE 10, which is the first page of a brochure, the tropical destination is typically portrayed

as empty, immense, eternal, limitless, without boundaries. Even without the usual worries of

everyday life, as three pairs of flip-flops were left alone on the beach, without worrying about

thefts.

People in exotic places are always portrayed as primitive, pure, innocent, authentic, as a

counterpoint to the complexities of the industrial world. In this kind of discourse, tourism

promotion uses images of a return to the soil (the farmyard, the countryside, little villages) and ads

promoting for example Greece or other similar places often show elderly men. These are

generally ageless people representing the everlasting past which the tourist is unable to find at

home. For this reason, the tourism industry represents the past as a foreign country. The past isseen through a romantic gaze that avoids the present(as exemplified in FIGURE 11).


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FIGURE 11. Brochure promoting Hawaii.

A third strategy is that of tense switching, whereby historical destinations are abounding with

contested versions of the truth, especially in those countries with a debated history. The following

sentence is an example of this strategy (my emphasis) and was taken from an ad promoting the

Museo Ebraico di Venezia:

In the worlds first ghetto the ancient synagogues and the Museum of the Jewish Community of

Venice.

In this example, a place such as a ghetto notoriously a place of socio-cultural segregation and to

which negative connotations are usually attached is presented as the main reason for visiting the

museum.

A fourth strategy is that of pointing to the future. In this case, the LoT share another elements with

the discourse of advertising. The message is directed at US, the tourists, the readers. The directmessage is that AFTER travelling and visiting that destination we will be changed. The underlying

message is to enjoy X rather than Y. Here, the invitation is at consuming particular services which

are not yetexperienced by the client (such as a kind of food, a particular beach).

In this discourse, the tense used is the future perfect tense which helps to project the self-

identifying action into the future and reflected as if it had already occurred. In this case, the

language operates at the level of the clients imaginative construction of reality which, if pleasing,

makes customers choose that option instead of competing alternatives. For this reason, tourist ads

and brochures are so often personlessand things are always about to happen.


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FIGURE 11. Brochure promoting Israel

For example, in the tourist brochure in FIGURE 11, the underlying message is that you will

experience if that condition happens so, only if you will plan to visit Israel and explore the whole

country, you will experience what the brochure is promoting.

In this discourse, the notion of escape is cast into two temporal modes: escape from and

escape to. Once the necessity of the former is acknowledged, the latter is presented as a solution to

the problem. The use of this kind of language projected into the future is more common than

expected as even when a tourist text refers to the past, they speak of the future. Even when the past

is presented as more desirable than the present, the tourist operator is actually selling the past to the

future.

3.4 The LoT properti es: M AGIC

In the LoT, a great role is constituted by magic. Magic is an organising mythology through which

instant transformations can take place without any other explanation than the power of magic itself.

If we want to involve the customer into a successful production process, we must involve him/her

through the power of incantation.

With this technique, the customer identifies him-/herself with the enchanting product by

buying it which is equivalent to the use of a spell-like formula which surrounds the product itself.

Magic also misrepresents time in space and vice versa. Indeed, in these cases, the new reality

offered to the tourist is one of non-existent places which are out of time. The tourist is magically

transported out of nature and, in the doing, become miraculously transformed into a person differentfrom his/her usual self. The idea behind this kind of message is that the magician (the tourist

operator who offers the tourist destination) performs for the client at the individual level and on a

one-to-one basis.

The link between magic and language is almost genetic. For example, the word spellhas a

magical and semiotic meaning; a runeis a sign form for the early stages of Germanic languages as

well as a symbol for charm or incantation. The German word bild (= image) derives from bil, a

miraculous sign. Similarly, GLAMOUR derives from the word grammar which originally meant

bewitchment.

In some cases, magic is a communicative activity which is therapeutic, in the sense that it

bridges gaps in the pursuit of lifes daily activities.


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Magical signs can be verbal (the formula) and non-linguistic (icons, objects). They can be

explicit (spells, set of instructions) or implicit (linguistic taboos). In our case, tourism promotion

like other forms of advertising is based on glamour (bewitchment) or the creation of envy in the

subject.

For example, if we see a well-dressed young male executive arm in arm with an equallysophisticated and attractive young woman, who are going out of a luxury hotel, we are led to envy

the couple for their obvious signs of success and affluence. Whether we identify with the man or the

woman, we wish to be at their place and become envied by others. We wish to become instantly and

magically transformed into objects of envy.

The promoter can create and give the illusion of satisfying this need. By flying the tourist to

the destination on the equivalent of a magic carpet in a process of transportation out of time and

place such transformation (into something different and enviable) becomes possible. For this

reason, hotels in particular employ thus strategy in their ads.

FIGURE 12. Ad promoting The Molino Stucky Hiltons Happy Hour (Venice).

For example, in the ad in FIGURE 12, the object of envy is a possibly well-shaped woman, holding

a glass of champagne and possibly valuable jewels. The formula of the spell is quite revealing. The

magician/promoter invites ordinary people to feel exclusive by joining the Hotels Happy Hour

event. Envy is prompted not only towards men who might wish to be the womans partner - as

also towards womenwho might wish to be as attractive, or as privileged as she is.

In other cases, hotels present themselves as wonderlands. One example is the Excalibur Hotel

in Las Vegas (FIGURE 13). The advertising picture transforms the hotel complex into a magical

playground in which, apart from the not-so-mysterious connotation of the name and its obvious

allusions to King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, there is a deliberate attempt to show

how time and place and wonderfully transposed.


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In this case, time is distorted as it presents a pseudo-medieval castle built a twenty years ago.

The, space is also distorted as these buildings are always associated to medieval Europe and we are

in the USA. However, the underlying message is that the tourist who resides in the castle can be a

king or a knight or a lady him-/herself via the magician/promoter.

Figure 13. The Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas (USA).

Since language is essential to successful spells and incantations, then names are important to attract

the tourists attention. For example, the big names of establishments such as the Ritz and Hilton

suggest the idea of elegance more than Station Hotel. So, Club Med, St Trop and Chez X give an

idea of intimacy. This brand imagery can be further enhanced when we incorporate the name into a

slogan, as in FIGURE 14.

FIGURE 14. Logos and slogans of the British Tourist Board

Another important aspect is the name of tour operators or of destinations, for examplean exotic spell

is communicated by names such as Flight, Nomad, New World, The Northern Star Cruises.

In the same vein, English pub names in big tourist cities are usually given mysterious names,

such as the Dogbolter (bolter meansa stick) and the Hobgoblinchains, which advertise their

own beers made from secret recipes. Other names remind of Englands historical past, such asKings Arms, Red Lion, Rose and Crown, The Cross and Keys, The Fox and Hounds.

The name of a place becomes fundamental where the area is decidedly unattractive (such as

an industrial region). For example, we can mention the Thatcherian attempt to revive Londons

former dismal dockland district into a new and vibrant commercial centre. The London docklands

were indeed transformed from what is shown in FIGURE 15 into what is shown in FIGURE 16.


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FIGURE 15. Londons docklands 1960s.

FIGURE 16.Londons docklands today.

This renovation campaign was accompanied by name changes as the Blackwall Basin to

Jamestown Harbourand Surrey Docksinto Surrey Quays.

Sometimes a name change is effected by establishing a literary connection with the past.Britain is full of these examples, such as Haworth in Yorkshire becomes The Bront Country(see

FIGURE 17 and FIGURE 18))

FIGURE 17. HaworthYorkshire. FIGURE 18. The Bront Country in an old-fashioned

style brochure

In other cases, there is a post-modern merging of the past (in the case of the Jorvik Viking Centre in

York, FIGURE 19) and future (as in the Cadbury World the Chocolate Experience in an

otherwise dreary suburb of Birmingham, Cavershamplace, FIGURE 20).


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FIGURE 19. Merging of the past = Jorvik Viking CentreYork, UK.

FIGURE 20. Merging of the future = Cadbury World the Chocolate Experience Cavershamplace,

Birmingham, UK.

The result of this kind of strategy is to convert a place into something else, often in a different time.

For example, in the UK we have the cases shown in FIGURES 21 to 24 (taken from the slides

present in class).

FIGURE 21.


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FIGURE 22. FIGURE 23.

FIGURE 24.

Originally these destinations were quite neglected but such a tourism campaign has indeed created a

magic as today they have been magically transformed into what the advertising spell promised: cosy

tourist destinations.

Another use of magic by the LoT is its use of special words and formulae, the ingredients of

the tourism promotions spell.

The creation of desire to travel is articulated by the promoter in a semi-incantatory manner which

involves the semantic fields of depart, escape, forget, change, take, meet, etc.

A category of attractions is assembled in a discourse of social myth (e.g. the cult of nature,

exaltation of the body, desire to meet the Other) to which the tourist must conform.

Such a framework is essentially magical in the sense that both the destination people and the tourist

come under the spell of the tour operator as sorcerer.

In this kind of discourse, words with a peculiar evocative power are preferred and they usually

suggest alienation from reality. The semantic fields involved are those of the fantasy world, of

profusion, abundance, simplicity and happiness.

Then there is also the use of special scripts used in slogans in which nothing is left to chance. For

example, in FIGURE 25, the promotional campaign of the city of Bergamo (Italy) played on the

phrase place to be vs. place to Bergamo, through a clever use of text con combination ofcolours.


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FIGURE 25. City of Bergamo Tourism Campaign

FIGURE 26. Ad promoting a tour of Egypt, Morocco and Arabia.

The sense of magic is implemented through the use of iconic images. For example, in FIGURE 26,

the sense of magic is conveyed by the dream-like misty frame in which the real ship appears. A shipwhich reminds also of mythical trips back in the past.

In this context, the tourism promoter applies a process of site sacralization, where s/he leads

the tourist further and further back into the regions, until they reach a climax (either in their past or

their present) by revealing their most intimate treasures.

Other stereotyped enchanting images are the picture of a door in tourism advertising

concerning the classical art (symbol of a magical passage, almost a ritual of initiation), a bejewelled

dancer to represent the mysterious East (she is portrayed as a seductress who initiates the tourist to

the secrets of exotic delights).

4. Additi onal properties of the LoT

Until know we have examined the four main properties of the LoT. However, there are some other

characteristics which might be equally important.

If the first four properties are shared by the LoT with other national general languages, these

four qualities tend to stress points of difference between tourism and other languages.

Additional four properties: Lack of sender identification; Monologue; Euphoria;


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Tautology (= repetition, redundancy).

4.1Lack of sender identi fi cationIn many forms of communication the sender of the message is easily and readily identifiable and

distinguishable from the receiver. In the case of the LoT, however, we might have some difficulties

in recognising the speaker, beyond the vague idea that it is somebody who represents the tourism

industry. Indeed, most of the times we are unaware of the identities of the compilers of brochures

and ads and cant be certain as to whether these are produced by anonymous operators working with

a team of sociologists, psychologists and marketing experts. Sometimes we are not even sure

whether the promotional material has been prepared by outsiders, tourism authorities from within

the destination area, for example a brochure creator might be a person working in a company which

has received the order to write the promotional material from a foreign country. In other cases, on

the contrary, we have a name printed on the material. This is the case, for example, of travel books,

travelogues and guidebooks.

The feeling of uncertainty which arouses from this situation is increased by the circular nature

of tourism and its consequent effect on the communication process. Now, it is the sender of the

message who paradoxically receives tourists and their feedback and the receiver of tourist

communication sends other tourists. This point is reinforced if we realize that tourists transmit

messages to other potential tourists via the word-of-mouth, photographs, postcards, blogs and

online reviews. Thus, they become senders instead of receivers of the message, absorbing and using

unconsciouslythe same type of language used by the brochure creator at the beginning of this

circular process.The result of this process is a flat uniformity in the LoT, whereby the promotional material

produced by local people who are supposed to write genuinely on their own places is as

stereotypical as that produced by outsiders.

FIGURE 26. Circle of the message in tourism communication.

4.2 Monologue

Commercial advertising is generally divided into three categories: prestige, industrial, consumer. In

prestige, name or image are politically promoted, they are not a product or service. Industrial is acommunication between equals (e.g. trading companies). Consumer reveals an asymmetrical


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relationship between a professional seller and an amateur buyer in terms of interest in and

knowledge about the advertised product. In addition, once the basic needs of the consumer are met,

the seller has to induce the consumer to purchase something less essential. It is a form of persuasion

which becomes necessary to the extent that a surplus of competing goods and services has been

produced for the mass market.Consequently, consumer advertising is a one-way communication, it is a monologuein which

the anonymous public cannot answer back except by refusing to read or listen to that ad or

commercial.

The LoT can assume the form of a monologue. Despite the fact that we do not know the

speaker and regardless the confusion which might arise from the circular system of tourism itself,

generally the speaker speaks and the listener listens, the picture are shown and the consumer views

them.

Tourism is not a basic need like food, but it is a want, an envy, a desire, something which can

be converted into something essential (a must) by the force and art of persuasion. Moreover, since

persuasion depends on greater knowledge and experience in the sender, the language of tourism can

be regarded as what MacCannell (1989: 9) calls rhetoric of moral superiority. Indeed, despite

occasional feedback, the LoT never encounters turn taking as in general speech and is

fundamentally unidirectional. In the LoT, then, the speaker/sender is anonymous, asexual, ageless,

and without economic or social status. For this reason, sender and speaker of the tourist message do

not enter in any kind of significant relationship. This is why, for example, dissatisfied customers are

told to deal with the complaints departments rather than the person who drafted the message in the

tourist text.

4.3 Euphori a

Like general advertising, the LoT tends to speak in positive and glowing terms of the services and

attractions it is promoting. In tourism texts, we never come across what is average or normal and

the LoT appears as a form of extreme language. The LoT, then, is often described as a euphoric

global vision or a verbal incontinence (Cazes 1976: 42) in which the superlative is almost

compulsory.

Tourist texts seek to satisfy the tourist at all costs, even to the point where destination people

disappear. The holiday must be problem free and a solution to the customary problems of home.

Thus, disturbing references to natives and their daily difficulties are usually omitted from

promotional material. In these cases, what is emphasised is the exotic as a variety of spice of life,

and novelty which is exciting.

Usually, in the promotion of destinations, romantic hyperboles are totally projected at the

consumer, while the reality of life for the islanders is completely ignored. The only text type which

does not always contain this kind of language are travelogues (or travel diaries), precisely because

they are evaluative post-trip accounts, so they can be quite critical of the places they describe.

However, they are certainly the exception rather than the rule.


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4.4 Tautology

One of the characteristics of contemporary tourism is its tautology (which means repetition,

replication, redundancy). Tourist texts narrate what everyone else knows. The world they discover

is a reproduction which comes back to them like a poor copy. They confirm the discourse repeatedby other tourist texts and by other tourists, asserting as true what was shown before the trip actually

began.

Mass tourisms appears to be satisfied by this, demanding more and more pseudo-events. Yet

the pictures they take are only reproductions of what is featured in the brochures, verifications of

the pre-made image that the tourist had in mind before departure.

Brochures and guidebooks tell the tourist that a particular monument is THE symbol of a

particular destination/place, that it signifies the very authenticity of that country/place. Then the

tourists go home of pictured of that symbol, completing the redundant circle.

In addition, when they come back, they tend to repeat the language used by brochures and

guidebooks to describe that place, not only as regards the themes but also in ideological content.

Advertisers and their language (in the field of tourism) feed off themselves, thus completing another

circle in the tourism industry which is summarised in FIGURE 27 below.

FIGURE 27.

The language of brochures, in particular, is said to be a self-fulfilling prophecy since it directs

expectations, influences perceptions and provides preconceived landscapes and ethnic stereotypes

for the tourist to discover.

Indeed, the classic tourist souvenirs are so popular because they provide a mental grid for

tourists to filter their own perceptions. They are simply culture packaged according to a few

recognisable characteristics.

In this context, we must not be surprised by the existence of verbal clichs in travel

advertising and journalism, on which tourists come to depend for security. Quoting Krippendorf

(1987: 22), we can say that clichs is what people want and clichs they will get. Travel

destinations are interchangeable at will.

To summarise, we can say that the phenomenon of tourism is a circular one and this is

reflected in its language as redundancy/tautology revolves around its own linguistic circles.


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5. Tour ism as a Language of Social Control

Another characteristic of the LoT is that tourism presents itself as a language of social control on

SIX fronts:

1. in the prototypical forms of tourism (its past);2. in contemporary tourism (its present);3. in the language it uses;4. in promotional material;5. in hotels and resorts (tourism amenities);6. in touring (package tourism).

5.1 Tourism as a Language of Social Control in its prototypical formsAncient Greece

If we accept the definition of a tourist as a person who travels for leisure, then tourism shows an

ancient past.

Indeed, in the Hellenic world, people travelled to the great religious sanctuaries of Eleusis,

Delhi, Olympia, Epidaurus and to the famous learning centres of Alexandria, Athens, Rhodes,

Lesbos, as well as to the resorts of Memphis and Thebes which were also popular among

international visitors. And, of course, the Olympic games attracted people from afar.

According to the early accounts of these early forms of tourism, we know that they were also

advertised with a basis on the need for escape from mob violence, political disturbances and cities

overcrowding, especially in the classical cities of Greece and Asia Minor. Great promoters of these

early tourist destination were writers such as Herodotus, Sappho, Anacreon, Homer. From them weknow that these places were well organised as destinations of rest and relaxation, they offered

guided tours and staged events.

To this respect, a classical writer such as Xenophon pointed to the economic benefits of

tourism, especially in the social order achieved through the building of state inns which could

accommodate foreigners arriving at the port of Piraeus. On the contrary, Plato highlighted the

negative consequences deriving from intercultural contact. Indeed, he recommended the isolation of

overseas visitors entering Athens for the fear of the impact they should have on Greek youth.

Moreover, Plato insisted on restrictions of freedom of travel outside the polis, via the

institution of controls over departures and limiting travel to official delegations. Those residents

who were to be granted permission to venture outside the capital would be required on their return

as a matter of duty, thus compulsorilyto instruct children that the customs of other countries were

worse than their own (according to the principle that no place is like home).

In real life, Xenophon was right, in the sense that the so-called proxenia or hospitality

being under the protection of the god Zeus made the guest a sacred person. Indeed, such

hospitality was given the full force of law (according to the other principle that guests/customers

are always right).


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5.1.2 Tour ism as a Language of Social Control in i ts prototypical formsAncient Rome

In ancient Rome we find a similar situation. Indeed, the duties of innkeepers to foreign clients were

regulated by special laws. As for the residents of Rome exasperated by problems of

overpopulation and urban pollution, citizens were no longer eager to witness gladiatorial displaysand wild beast shows, so they headed towards the hills of Tivoli, Tusculum, Praeneste following

the advertising writings of Virgil, Horace, Pliny the Younger. This influx of tourists led to the

creation of resorts stretching the length of the Campanian coast from Cumae to Naples. The most

famous of these resorts was Baiae which resembled modern day costas (Costa Brava, Costa

Smeralda) rather than a simple bathing and resting destination.

However, even in this case, we have some negative opinions by writers such as Propertius,

Seneca and Petronius who protested against the associated corruption and loose living of these

resorts. The tourism activities of the Romans consisted in games, festivals, pilgrimages, trips to spas

and resorts.

In these early stages, the language of tourism is defined as a language of prescription and

proscription, i.e. people are toldby authoritative writerswhere to go and not to go, how to dress

and not to dress, the proper ways and manners of behaving, sleeping times, eating habits and even

topics of conversation in accordance of the wishes of their hosts.

5.1.3 Tour ism as a Language of Social Control in i ts prototypical formsThe M iddle Ages

A few centuries later, during the Middle Ages, we know from monastic literature that the ideas of

liberation in the wilderness and communion with nature (todays eco-tourism tenets) were seen asmoral ideas.

Apart from Marco Polos journey to China in 1271 and various pilgrimages which were

programmed according to the liturgical calendar, for the 13th and 14th centuries, little appears to

have been recorded about tourism and travel. Those poor who had to travel were subject to strict

measures of control by the authorities.

For example, in 14th century Britain, with the excuse of the pilgrimage, quite a number of

students without testimonials from their legal tutors and wanderers without permission of their local

priests were arrested, publically whipped and sent home. 200 years later (the 16thcentury) vagrants

were branded and those supplying them with food and drink were fined.

5.1.4 Tour ism as a Language of Social Control in i ts prototypical formsThe Renaissance

Yet gradually a pattern emerged whereby northern European travellers re-discovered the fascination

for the Mediterranean countries.

Italy became particularly famous not only for its cultural heritage but also for its depravity.

Playwrights and poets such as Marlowe, Webster, Joachim du Bellay and Jean Marot captured this

contrast in their works.


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But the philosopher Erasmus and the famous essayist Montaigne were those who succeeded

to persuade travellers to follow their footsteps and venture to Italy. In particular, Montaigne and his

Voyage to Italy across Switzerland and Germany anticipated placesand impressions of daily life

that were to influence future travellers. Of similar importance was Bacons Of Travel: here the

writer lists a series of must sees and eminent persons with whom to converse after suitable lettersof introduction. In addition, he stresses the importance of observation and monitoring of

experiences.

These works were accompanied by a series of manuals of advice which emphasised the need

to assimilate classical texts, hold graceful discussions and speak eloquently upon their return.

5.1.5 Tour ism as a Language of Social Control in i ts prototypical formsThe Grand Tour

This socio-cultural development in the history of tourism paved the way to the famous Grand Tour

(generally of Europe), during which usually Oxbridge graduates would complete their education in

the company of a tutor. Here, the importance was not on sightseeing or the picturesque, but rather

on travel as a preparation for life. This training focused on the cities which as in a lay pilgrimage

were regarded as a place of safety from the dangers of the wilderness and countryside.

In 1762, Rousseau published his Emile in which emphasis was again put on nature, escape

from the horrors of city life and contemplation of the pastoral and bucolic aspects of countryside.

Here the central idea lies on the concept of the noble savage, a happy and simple creature in the

state of nature uncontaminated by the complexities of urban existence. Many other authors took up

these romantic themes (Goethe, Wordsworth, Keats, Browning), all of them travellers who knew

how to attract others to their preferred destinations through the power of persuasion.The combined effect of these writings on the Grand Tour was quite dramatic. If during the

Renaissance, the favourite route patterns took the classical cities of Italy, France and the Low

Countries, now Romanticism opened the way to an entirely different path which concentrated on

rural landscapes comprising wild scenery such as the Alps or the Jura mountains as well as such

picturesque spots as the villages of the Rhine Valley and Lake Lucerne.

During this period, we might have witnessed a real exodus from the city to the Alps,

Cvennes (Massif Central, France), and even as far as the Sahara.

In response to the Grand Tourers demands, a number of tourist hotels were built in the 1820s

in Switzerland and across Europe. Dramatic improvements in tourist accommodation were foundespecially in rural areas and in Germany, they were achieved and duly noted in travel accounts (e.g.

Shelley in 1844). Soon whole resorts areas (e.g. the French Riviera) mushroomed to the needs of

the literates and their aristocratic patrons. However, these tourists soon fell into the routine of

promenades, taking tea and soires devoted to music or discussions of new about home.

This period of tourism expansion witnessed also the publication of several colour-coded

guidebooks: e.g. the green handbook for travellers was for Switzerland and the Savoy Alps, the red

handbook by Baedeker promoted Belgium and a blue guide promoted itineraries in Switzerland. All

of these emphasised what had to be seen and experienced in the best romantic tradition.


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5.1.6 Tour ism as a Language of Social Control in i ts prototypical formsThomas Cook and the

Democratisation i n Travel

By the 1840s, the heydays of the Grand Tour were over, but it continued to survive in those

romantic travels of the twentieth century, undertaken by nostalgic writers.The end of the aristocratic Grand Tour was caused by two factors: 1) the decline of university

training or social class of its participants, and 2) to the demand for greater democratisation in travel.

This was particularly advocated by Thomas Cook, a Baptist preacher (FIGURE 28).

FIGURE 28. Thomas Cook.

He became famous in 1841 when he was involved in the transportation by rail of some temperance

brethren from Leicester to a convention in Loughborough. Spiritual upliftment was also the

pushing factor in his steamer excursion from Liverpool to Cearnarvon and subsequent ascent to

Mount Snowdown, all of which was advertised and accompanied by a handbook. After tours in

Scotland and Ireland, Cook spread further into continental Europe, America, Palestine-Egypt and atour around the world in 1872.

During these tours, he was always able to keep fellow-travellers safe and controlled via a

system of coupons and moral injunctions about sin. Cook benefited of the literary support of Mark

Twain, the royal patronage of Kaiser Wilhelmspilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1898, and the much

publicised visit of a number of Indian princes to the celebrations for Queen Victorias jubilee in

1887. Today the name Thomas Cook is the brand for a renowned company for organised tourism

present all around the world (whose logo and symbolic markers are shown in FIGURE 29 below).

FIGURE 29. Present-day symbolic markers for the Thomas Cooks company


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5.1.7 Tour ism as a Language of Social Control in i ts prototypical formsThe Late Modern

Times

While Cook toured around Europe and the world, in the United States a phenomenal advertising

campaign was undertaken by the railroads with the creation of railroad guides containinginformation about the cities, town, stations, watering places and summer resorts touched by the

railway (FIGURE 30).

In this case, it is interesting to notice that tourists were told where to look for and hunt the

buffalo, trout fishing, etc.

Reaction to the introduction of mass tourism was swift and came via the print media. From

the pages of a literary journal (the Blackwoods Magazine), a series of writers nostalgically lamented

the passage of the Grand Tour, and likened Cooks voyages by rail to the expedition of a parcel.

Indeed, Cook exercised so great control over his tourists that the image of flocks created at

that time is still applied to subjugated tourists taking package tours today. These very critics made a

useful distinction between the lost art of travel and tourists, who passively experience controlled

pseudo-events. Indeed, the romantic myth of the traveller was kept alive in the Victorian travel

writing by Richard Burton, David Livingstone, Henry Stanley who influenced the works of

novelists such as D. H. Lawrence, W. H. Auden and V. S. Naipaul.

In spite of the resistance of romantic nostalgia, Thomas Cook and his successors perform very

effectively today. So too do competing companies such as Thomson and Neckermann, or other

multinational operators who constitute the bulk of the contemporary travel market, since they are

able to organise million. They no longer use the travel account as their medium of communication

but they rely in other ways on tourism as a language of social control.

FIGURE 30. Guide book promoting the Railroad Lands.

5.2 Tourism as a Language of Social Controlin contemporary tourism

Tourism is regarded as a subset of leisure, operating in time freed from the constraints of social

obligations.

In contemporary tourism, individuals may be free from their daily duties but they are not

automatically free to do anything they wish, since they are under a different set of constraints. In the

case of daily life, we fall within the social infrastructure; in the case of tourism, the framework is

likewise determined.


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Indeed, in the tourism industry, tourists have only the impression of being free. They are

internally dependent and influenced from ads and stereotypes. While feeling free from the

obligations to follow norms which regulate everyday life, tourists imitate other tourists behaviours,

so they are bounded to social constraints.

In theory, tourists can rediscover themselves, in practice their contact with the Other isrestricted to interaction with the hotel receptionist or even just a computer. Tours are so

overcrowded and programmes so one-sided that it is virtually impossible to capture the living

atmosphere of a place.

All tourists receive a false image of the place, a part of the whole, a series of attractions and

not reality. External constraints operating in the tourists can be considered tour programmes;

internal constraints are generally reinforced via publicity. Thus , tourists become mere imitators of

those who only supposedly represent a better life.

This kind of holiday experience can never satisfy expectations, for this reason tourism

promotion continuously deeds off this dissatisfaction, in order to get more and more clients. The

desire for tourist experiences represents an uncontrollable demand which has to be channelled and

mastered by the tourism industry.

Tourism controls the personal consumption of spare time and places the limits on free time.

The tourism industry regulates decision-making parameters in both originating and receiving

countries; it controls the demand and the market, driving tourists as if they were products through a

multinational system which has no boundaries.

In this context, international tourism becomes a monolithic system with its own set of

formalities to which the individual is subjected and in which s/he is absorbed. The social control of

tourism is required to ensure the safety of tourists and to protect the industrys investment.

The requirement for order in the tourism industry is so pervasive that many countries openedto tourism under thoroughly oppressive regimes (e.g. Spain under Franco, Portugal under Salazar,

the Philippines under Marcos).

Such control is exercised in a pyramidal manner from multinational companies to operators,

resorts, hotels, from Club Med with its barbed wire fences to Holiday Inns and their fervour. What

makes this chain of command possible is the tourists situation of dependency.

Travellers used to read and seek knowledge on their own. Touristswith the general decline

in educationrely on information that is passed down to them by faceless experts.

In this perspective, analysing tourism is analysing the balance of power rather than that of

freedom. Consequently, attention should focus on who organises transporting, accommodating,feeding, entertaining into one vast operation.

Travel agencies, hotels, tourism organisations and state institutions have developed tourism

into a system of social control focused on the conduct of people in their free time. In this regard,

advertising comes as the chief means of communication for redefining situations, setting parameters

and altering consumer behaviour in the desired direction.

Clients are disorganised and lack any coherent agenda, so they come easily under the control

of a discourse which asks questions (e.g. why dont you enjoy..? Did you ever enjoy..?), provide

answers (e.g. visit place X; eat at ) and speaks to them in a series of commands.


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We can take the economic argument one stage further if we consider that greater control

ensures greater profits. Competition and deregulation lead to a reduction in prices, and such

lowering prices lead to further standardization and regimentation.

In order to mask the resulting oppression, a friendly kind of discourse takes over and tells

tourists let us handle everything, hence persuading them that, by joining an organised tour, lifewill become simpler and more free.

Unfortunately, a side effect is the degradation of the product. However, the natural limits of

capacity of the destinations naturally lead operators to control the tourist influx. Yet, there is little

evidence to suggest that matters of conscience are taming the tourism industry. Rather than

controlling and limiting the number of tourists which can access a site each day, the tourism

establishment prefers to exert its control over time in the scheduling of events and timetabling the

holiday experience. It also orders space by telling tourists where they have to go and where to look

at. In doing so, tourism defines reality. Indeed, in many cases tourism involve less freedom and

more structure than real life at home, a place many tourists had hoped to escape.

However, there are counter-examples in which tourism seems not to impose directly since

they are already places in which the mechanism of organisation is already active, for example

pilgrimages, since their obligatory character is dictated by the religious institution.

In these cases, international tourism has only to build its own superstructure of control on a

pre-existing infrastructure of obligation. Same situation for the diaspora-driven roots journey (e.g.

Jewish or Irish diasporas).

Generally speaking, we can say that the amount of order and obligation depends on the nature

of the tourist attraction and this level can be placed along a continuum ranging from wild to formal

(FIGURE 31).

Formal gardens and city parks call for greater control than unexplored regions and in betweenthese two extremes we find national parks and adventure tours which lead tourists through wild

areas in order to experience the feeling of taming, controlling nature. Sometimes, lesser-known

local sites need greater sacralisation performances than famous places where visitors may be struck

with wonder as to require no formal tour.

Control varies also according to the degree of recommendation associated with a destination,

whether this be due to a simple word-of-mouth or establishment, as we can see in some magazines

showing glossy pictures of celebrities advertising a particular place. In this respect, fashion journals

exert a greater influence on readers than any other kind of promotional material.

FIGURE 31. Continuum of tourist attractions


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5.3 Tourism as a Language of Social Controlin the language it uses

As said before, the imperative is one of the most used tenses in the LoT. Its illocutionary, pragmatic

force is that of command or request. If this tense is chosen, the speaker is intentioned to exert

control over the listener.In addition, the LoT is also said to be hortatory, i.e. a medium through which the cooperation

with others is sought. This is especially evident in the attempt of tourism to persuade future clients.

In the hortatory function, a negative assertion is always implicit (when we say this is mine, we

mean also this is not yours). In so doing they acknowledge the necessity of private property, for

example, or of fundamental principles in human interaction.

Control and order depend on the acknowledgement of the negative. However, in tourism

advertisements the positive is glorified and the negative is reported as attractive. This means that

places showing a precise set of regulations are considered attractive because they convey a sense of

order and control (e.g. Singapore vs. India).

Besides, once everything is organised, it is then possible for both host and guest to feel the

delights of all that goes against the normal (ghosts, religion, fortune tellers, festivals, T-shirt

slogans with ridicule government bans). These contradictions, the negative of the negative, are

extremely popular, but within an organised framework. If we take away control and create order out

of chaos, then tourists and locals would be lost.

The kind of imperative used in the LoT is called impratif catgorique, it is shared with

general promotion and is an imperative of consumption. It contrasts with the so-called modern

capitalist freedom and sets a series of prescriptions (for example in the Stucky Hilton ad, FIGURE

12).

The imperative tense of the LoT can be located at the pre-trip stage of the holiday. The orderis issued by the advertiser who plays on the ordered catalogue of attractions which are embedded in

prevailing social myths.

In some cases, the imperative is the tense of on-trip situations, for example in the act of

sightseeing. Sightseeing can be seen as a rite, an institutionalised duty to gaze upon what must be

seen, a form of social constraint which imposes a categorical imperative ontourists which must be

obeyed.

The guidebooks injunctions to see impose an obligation on the tourist via bold types, capital

letters and number of stars. These markers are combined with textual commands. Other keywords

such as interesting, merit, charming, etc. are contrasted with their opposites in order tocategorise the itinerary into areas which must be seen and others which must be ignored. Time and

space are thus rationally isolated for cultural consumption.

Other terms such as grand, majestic, enormous which are sometimes used to define

mountainsconnote corresponding obligatory attitudes of respect, reverence and admiration on the

part of the tourist.

This imagery is reinforced by impressive statistics and figures to strengthen the attribute of

height along with the use of superlatives. On other occasions duty takes the form of ascending these

heights; here the guidebook warns that the climb is well worth the effort and that as a reward the

tourist can gaze out over superb vistas and magnificent panoramas.


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Influenced by these instructions, the tourist goes not to see things but the images of things.

Thanks to previous exposure to glossy pictures of these sights, tourists know what they must see.

The norms of the trip are already implanted in their minds. Sights and attractions become

decontextualized, detached from culture, and embellished for visitation.

In the language of advertising, the 20 most frequent imperatives are: try, ask for, get, take,let/send for, use, call/make, come on, hurry, come/see/give/remember/discover,

serve/introduce/choose/look for. Most of which come to be synonymous of buy.

In the case of tourism, the customer is often asked to contact the dealer or agent (call, book

now) or to fill a coupon for more information. This strategy is particularly useful since it gives the

impression that they are doing something for the client. At the same time, this allows feedback on

the effectiveness of the original message and a follow-up individual sales once the customer has

been identified.

However, there might be alternative ways of issuing commands to clients. One of these

techniques is the negated interrogative (isnt it time you treated yourself to a holiday?).Another is

the use of should (you should experience the many delights of..). Leaving out any mention of

you (our spa treatment is certainly worth trying) which is a directive speech act in the form of

advice. In other cases, we can conceal exhortation by masquerading it as information (you can

dance the night away at any of the hotels five discos). It will be the context which allows the

advertiser to control the potential client.

5.4 Tourism as a Language of Social Controlin promotional material

The linguistic basis for tourism as a language of social control is best illustrated by guidebooks fortheir ability to control both receivers and referents of their discourse.

The famous guidebook Baedekerso popular in England since at least the nineteenth century

was written by Baedeker himself. He was a relentless sightseer who never described anything in

his guides which he had not personally experienced. His meticulous descriptions told their readers

what to expect (e.g. mosquitoes, bedbugs, fleas, the dangers of unwashed fruits and uncooked

salads, the price of postage stamps), he also prescribed how tourists had to behave (how to dress, to

avoid unnecessary contact with the natives, to refrain from loud, political comments in public

places, to desist from taking photographs or design beggars). In short, he told tourists how to be

decent, respectable, model representatives of their own country.Baedeker was the originator of the system of star rating, whereby two stars were given to

extraordinary sights and one star to those only noteworthy. Followers of the guide felt obliged to

visit the asterisked attractions, since failure to perform this duty would result in feelings of personal

and social frustration.

Baedekers example tells us of the control exerted by guidebooks which are in turn based on

the expectations of the tourists themselves. The tourist is conditioned, programmed by his itinerary

or guidebook, to visit certain places and experience them in a way promoted by advertising, his

native self and his/her internalised culture. The sense of obligation is effective only to the extent

that it mirrors real or created needs in the subject.


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Usually, it is not a place to be a tourist attraction, it is language that makes it so, language

imposes the duty to see. Once thus consecrated, the tourist attraction becomes a sanctuary which

must be seen before relaxing or moving to new sanctuaries.

The language of social control can be found also in travelogues. In these travel accounts,

authors use the star-rating system along with information provided about key sights,accommodation, dining and travel conditions/connections.

The account is described as an opinionated survey of the best experiences still to be found, but

however subjectivethe opinions of an experienced travel writer in selecting the best destinations

will exert considerable control in subsequent destination choice by readers. These might select the

destination only according to the rating with stars especially if they are pressed for time or lacking

sufficient funds.

Another tactic used by writer of both guidebooks and travelogues is to offer advice to readers.

After outlining the different attractions of a place, some advice is usually given to help tourists

enjoy the experience at the very best. In this case, the language of social control is at work since the

writer establishes new priorities or hierarchies, a system of order dictated by the author him-

/herself.

However, in most cases writers simply use the well-tried imperative in order to inform the

audience what to do, a strategy which tends to be used in places which are culturally distant or

unfamiliar.

Photography, videos and multimedia supports are other promotional media through which

expectations can be shaped. This kind of imagery becomes then manipulative and influencing

without appearing to do so. Indeed photography institutionalises what tourists are to see and how

they are to see it. Thus pictures form a secondary discourse of advertising which instructs us in

ways of seeing and relating to other people and their cultures. The ad with pictures teases thetourists by anticipating the story they will tell about the picture when they return home to their

friends.

5.5 Tourism as a Language of Social Controlin hotels and resorts

The hotel may be seen as an establishment which encapsulates tourists, protecting them from

outside dangers. Its institution-like nature exerts a form of social control over international tourists

and encourage conformity to social conventions.Initially hotels were aristocratic institutions which adopted the symbols and rituals of the

ruling class in order to preserve their identities.

With the democratisation of the tourism industry, however, first the upper middle classes (the

haute bourgeoisie), then the middle classes and later members of the upper working classes wished

to have access to this institution. In response to such demand, hotels adopted two different strategies

(exclusion and accommodation).

Exclusion was reflected in the star system of classification: luxury five-star hotels were

symbolically closed to lower categories of budget travellers. The underlying message was that they

lacked the necessary cultural capital in order to follow the appropriate codes of behaviour (dress,

food service rituals, familiarity with haute cuisine, etc.).


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With the advent of package tours, the strategy of accommodation was applied more and more

frequently: more affordable facilities were introduced (such as the buffet, coffee and ice machines,

TVs) in order to control clients.

In this way, control could also be exercised over interactions between strangers (hosts and

guests, among guests). Gender stratification was also achieved by catering essentially to an maleclientele and by labelling certain public rooms as male (e.g. smoking rooms) or females (e.g.

drawing rooms).

By using the services provided by the accommodation infrastructure clients accept and

recognise as necessary the level of social control and obligations set by the hotel-institution.

This kind of awareness, however, might be at the origin of the increasing popularity in self-catering

options, which are perceived as less oppressive.

In the general context of the LoT, the advertised freedom contrasts sharply with the reality of hotels

as regulatory institutions. For example, in Britain, one mechanism whereby mass tourists were able

to avoid the constraints of the hotel and guest house was by choosing a holiday camp. Before the

First World War, these resorts amounted to no more than a set of tents. Nevertheless, they

represented reaction and alternative to the poor quality and services offered by the typical boarding

house of that period (FIGURE 32).

FIGURE 32. First holiday camps in Britain.

In 1936, Mr Billy Butlin opened his first luxury holiday camp in Skegness, with good quality food,

entertainment and sanitation, but the holiday-makers still seemed bored. Consequently, Butlin

understood that they needed more organisation and invented the famous Redcoats who would

lead, advise, explain, comfort, help out and generally make themselves the closest thing to holiday

angels on earth.

An attempt was made to achieve classlessness by naming all clients as campers. At dawn

they were hailed in a sort of Moslem-style or military-camp style by loudspeakers booming outGood Morning Campers! and at night there was a corresponding farewell.

In between there was a non-stop programme of activities. Campers were pressurised into

participating at the risk of being treated as social outcasts.


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FIGURE 33. First ads promoting Butlins Holiday Camps and a picture of one of the Camps.

Nowadays, companies of this kind (see Club Med, for example) have sensed that tourists might feel

a loss of freedom (stressed by the word camp), so they now call themselves villages, centres,

holiday worlds. Even so, these camps are declining in popularity. The same happens to de luxe

resorts that are considered factories of the tourism industry.

Indeed, the leading British and German tour operators allocate very little percentage space

(2.1% to 4.9%) to holiday camps, especially because they are all identical whereas present-day

tourists still seek exclusiveness (or the appearance of it) when they book their holiday.

FIGURE 34. Present-day Redocats.


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5.6 Tourism as a Language of Social Controlin Touring

Once tourists have arrived at their destination, many simply stay within the controlled and protected

boundaries of the resort until it is time to return by coach to the airport.

Some tourists, however, choose organised excursions. Here staff representatives bring thetourists to the site where the local guide takes over until it is time to get back safely to the resort or

the hotel.

At these sites other control mechanisms are at work: in some cases the entire holiday is in the

nature of an organised tour; in other cases more adventurous forms of group exploration and

walking tours may take place.

FIGURE 35.

5.6.1 Tour ism as a Language of Social Control in Tour in

3 cesiri englishfor tourism ch3 (4)

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