Official Tourism Websites: A Discourse Analysis Perspective

Official Tourism Websites: A Discourse Analysis Perspective investigates the construction and promotion of identity of tourist locales by the designers of the official websites for destinations such as Santiago de Compostela, Spain; the Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia; New Orleans, Louisiana and Gary, Indiana; Myanmar/Burma; US Sports Halls of Fame; and, in recognizing the influence and popularity of such sites, three websites parodying the imaginary nations of Phaic Tan, Molvania and San Sombrero. Analysis addresses how tourism websites foster social action and, therefore, contribute to the (re)construction of nations and other communities by variably fostering re-imagination, rebirth, renaissance, promotion and caution, and patriotism. Recognizing that tourism texts can function to both construct and embody identity for their respective locales, this investigation employs critical discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, and visual semiotic analysis in the investigation of web texts and images.

This text explores tourism websites as mediums of identity construction and promotion. As interactive modes of communication, tourism websites for nations, cities, and attractions function critically in the new capitalism as calls for social action in contributing to economic and social rebirth, growth, and preservation.

Richard W. Hallett is a Professor of linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, IL. He received his PhD in linguistics from the University of South Carolina. In addition to the discourse of tourism, his research interests include second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and World Englishes.
Judith Kaplan-Weinger is Professor of linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, IL. She earned her PhD in linguistics from Georgetown University. Her teaching and research interests lie in, aside from language and tourism, the multi-modal discourse analysis of grief and mourning.