Within
the disciplines of sociology and anthropology, the main
theoretical advances provided by the perspectives of authenticity,
strangerhood, play and conflict have been made with respect
to understanding tourists and how they are attracted by
real or imaginary differences. However, it is only when
a linguistic paradigm is adopted that it can be more clearly
seen that the problem for the tourism industry resides in
how to market such differences credibly and effectively
in a competitive situation. Here, six non-mutually exclusive
strategies have been inductively identified from the publicity
material of several National Tourism Organizations : “vive
la difference”, “the one and only”, “so
much more”, “land of contrasts”, “super
superlatives” and the “distinctive blend”.
Employed separately and in combination, it must be asked
if their continuous use simply constitutes harmless hyperbole
or whether it is more of an ethical question of promotional
irresponsibility.
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