Reading Tourism Texts in Context: A Critical Discourse Analysis

This article discusses the method of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) employed in a study focusing on the textual representation of ethnocultural diversity by official tourism organizations (OTOs) in England. The underlying principles of CDA are outlined, as well as the specific approach adopted in the study. The study employed a three-dimensional approach to CDA, which included an analysis of written and spoken language as text, as discourse practice, and as social practice. By way of an example, a critical reading of a promotional text is provided that focuses on the dimension of discourse practice. This critical reading outlines some of the strategies writers use to naturalize discourses in tourism promotion: that is, to make discourses appear to be common sense and apolitical. Subsequently, the article comments on the problems and possibilities for the deployment of CDA approaches to analysis within the prevailing system of research governance in the UK and elsewhere. It is argued that although the criteria of relevance and applicability, so often appended to research outputs, may collide with critical interpretative approaches, CDA does have the potential to contribute to our understanding of tourism, and its meta-narratives.