Critical Discourse Analysis of Lithuania's Official Tourism

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Critical Discourse Analysis of Lithuania's Official Tourism Critical Discourse Analysis of Lithuania’s Official Tourism Communication Faculty of Arts I Master Thesis Creative Industries Vėjūnė Tamašauskaitė Student number: 4829689 Radboud University Nijmegen Nijmegen, August 10, 2017 Supervisor Dr. T. Sintobin Acknowledgments This thesis is special for me because it is about the young country that I was born in. I was growing in Lithuania together with changes in it, seeing how the country is overcoming difficulties and learning from its mistakes. By writing this thesis, I had an opportunity to assess Lithuania’s attempts to introduce itself to the world. Therefore, I am very grateful for my supervisor Dr. Tom Sintobin, who steered me in the right direction whenever he thought I needed it, but at the same time gave me a lot of freedom and allowed this paper to be my own work. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for his patience and guidance. I thank my fellow classmates and lecturers for the immense knowledge that enriched my life. I am grateful that I had an opportunity to study with the most interesting people from all over the world and learn from the inspiring and dedicated professors. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family. I truly appreciate everything they have done for me. Most importantly, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents, who supported me throughout this journey of my life and without their support I would have missed out on the best experience of my life. I will be forever grateful for their love and trust. 2 Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 5 1. Country in transition .................................................................................................................................... 6 2. The background story behind the place branding in Lithuania.................................................................... 7 3. Destination brand of Lithuania: Real is Beautiful ......................................................................................... 9 4. Public reaction and controversies related to the Lithuanian destination brand ......................................... 9 5. Relevancy and the focus of the research ................................................................................................... 11 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................................... 12 Theoretical framework .......................................................................................................................................... 15 1. Place branding ............................................................................................................................................ 15 2. Destination branding .................................................................................................................................. 16 3. Tourist gaze ................................................................................................................................................ 18 4. Place identity .............................................................................................................................................. 19 5. Place brand positioning .............................................................................................................................. 21 6. Place brand image ...................................................................................................................................... 21 7. Heritage ...................................................................................................................................................... 23 8. Ideological uses of heritage........................................................................................................................ 24 9. Tourism and heritage ................................................................................................................................. 24 Lithuania’s destination brand “Real is Beautiful” ................................................................................................ 27 1. Institutional practice: Official requirements for the brand creation ......................................................... 27 2. Brand manifesto ......................................................................................................................................... 30 2.1. Text analysis of the brand manifesto ................................................................................................. 31 2.2. Discourse practice .............................................................................................................................. 41 3. Visual representation of the brand ............................................................................................................ 47 3.1. Visual texts analysis ................................................................................................................................. 49 3.2. Discourse practise ................................................................................................................................... 53 4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 55 Communication on the national tourism website ............................................................................................... 58 1. General description of the website ............................................................................................................ 58 2. Historical context ....................................................................................................................................... 62 3 3. Visual texts analysis .................................................................................................................................... 65 4. Discourse practise ...................................................................................................................................... 79 5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 82 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................................. 85 References: ............................................................................................................................................................ 90 Appendix A ............................................................................................................................................................. 96 Appendix B ............................................................................................................................................................. 97 Appendix C ............................................................................................................................................................. 98 4 Introduction “How one represents the world, to what one commits oneself.” - Norman Fairclough During the late-modern age, tourism has become one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Political changes on both local and international level led to more open borders between countries. Traveling by all means of transportation has become cheaper and more accessible to a broader audience. But most importantly, consumer behavior started to shift from the consumption of goods to the consumption of experiences. Hence, from the end of the 20th century onwards the discussion about experiences as commodities has emerged. Consequently, branding of the places started to receive increasing attention. It has been “interpreted within the framework of a neoliberal shift in public management urging regional and local authorities to show an entrepreneurial attitude” (Pasquinelli, 2010, p. 558). Countries, regions, cities and even neighborhoods started to apply branding strategies to attract and retain the resources and to add value to the places. The application of marketing concepts to places resulted in the shift of meaning, where places have been appraised as commodities. The reoccurring pattern of the use of language and rhetoric in place branding literature proves it very well. Scholars and marketers argue that place branding is vital for the competitive advantage in the global tourism market as it adds value to the place and helps to attract economic resources (Kotler & Gertner, 2002; Govers & Go, 2009; Daye, 2010). When it comes to placing branding the goal of marketers is to project an image of a place by emphasizing distinctive features of it for a target audience. The selective nature of place branding often results in a generalized image of a place in which certain aspects of it are promoted as dominant while others are excluded. Place branding is always trying to shape the singular meaning of a place which is highly contradictive as “places are social constructions” (Boisen, Terlouw, van Gorp, 2011, p. 137) that change over time together with shifts in culture, economy, and politics. Branding implies homogeneity whereas places and their residents are always heterogeneous. What branding practitioners
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