Authenticity in cultural mediation Case study: Denmark

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1 Authenticity in cultural mediation

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3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION PROBLEM METHODOLOGY EMPIRICAL DATA TOURISM TODAY CULTURAL IDENTITY TOURIST GAZE MASS SOCIETY TOURIST VS. AUTHENTICITY SEEKING TOURIST MODERNISM AND TOURISM VS. POST-MODERNISM AND POST-TOURISM MCDONALDIZATION OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY MEDIATION CULTURAL MEDIATORS PRESENTING CULTURE OFFICIAL TOURISM AUTHORITIES AND THE DTB IMAGE AND PRODUCT BROCHURES GUIDEBOOK PUBLISHING COMPANIES GUIDEBOOKS TOURISM MARKETING DESTINATION BRANDING BRANDING DENMARK COMMUNICATIONAL MEANS TEXT AND ITS SOCIAL CONTEXT/SITUATION COMMUNICATION MODEL FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE The expressive language function The phatic language function The metalinguistic language function The informative language function The poetic language function The directive language function TEXT AND TEXT TYPE Argumentation Instruction Exposition Description Narration Conceptual exposition LIVING LOCAL CULTURE, HISTORY & ART, AND BRAND IDENTITY MEDIATED SENSE OF AUTHENTICITY: LIVING CULTURES Packaged presents MEDIATED SENSE OF SPACE AND TIME: HISTORY AND ART Packaged past MEDIATED SENSE OF PLACE: IDENTITY BRANDING Packaging the place-product EMPIRICAL DATA

4 8. ANALYSIS OF EMPIRICAL DATA COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS The DTB brochure The Thomas Cook guidebook The Lonely Planet guidebook In conclusion TEXTUAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Language functions and the DTB brochure Language functions and the TC guidebook Language functions and the LP guidebook In conclusion Text type and the DTB brochure Text type and the TC guidebook Text type and the LP guidebook In conclusion CONCLUSION SUMMARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

5 1. Introduction Tourists who travel to destinations they have never visited before may have little or no local knowledge of the destination and its culture. Hence they seek guidance from the different cultural mediators available, such as travel books, tour guides, locals or tourist information offices. With the help from these cultural mediators the tourists are better equipped to see, sense and understand the local culture. The mediators have different roles, as some promote the destination whereas others merely assist the tourists in choosing where to go and what to see. Whichever role the different mediators have, they all engage in the area of cultural consumption. In cultural tourism, cultural mediators translate and explain local cultural signs and sights to foreign tourists. Without the acts of mediation there is a risk that the cultural products would be overlooked and taken no notice of. The tourism authorities of Denmark, the Danish Tourists Board (DTB), aim at promoting Denmark in an inviting way to attract tourists to the country. Most tourists who buy travel books have made their choice of destination already, and the travel books are often used as a supplement to the brochures distributed by the local tourist information offices. The travel book publishers are not considered competitors to the local tourism authorities, but to the other travel book publishing companies. Hence they nonetheless have an interest in presenting an accurate and appetizing picture of the destination that appeals to the tourists. The mediators chosen represent different genres, but they all have the same overall communicative purpose, namely presenting Denmark and Danish cultural products Problem The tourism industry is becoming more comprehensive, as tourists today have multiple choices. This vast array of tourism products combined with enhanced financial opportunities places power in the hands of the consumers, the tourists. Different motivations drive tourists but whether the tourists of today seek authenticity or whether they are content with experiencing staged authenticity, culture is always an issue in tourism communication. Inspired by a book on cultural tourism and tourism cultures by Can-Seng Ooi (2002), which discusses tourism and the impact cultural mediators have on tourism consumption, cultural mediation is the focal point of my thesis. I will not discuss the impact mediators may have on 5

6 cultural consumption. In this thesis my focal points are today s tourism and cultural mediators from which my main topics culture, authenticity and branding are derived. I have chosen these aspects due to their significance for tourism communication. Mediators employ these aspects to different extents, but all as a means to portray and explain the destinations. My three-month trainee period with the Danish Tourist Board (DTB) in London in 2003 inspired me to use Denmark as my case study. Furthermore Denmark as case study is interesting considering that in the aftermath of the September 11 th attacks on the World Trade Centre; racism has allegedly been on the increase in the Danish society that previously had an unspoiled reputation of being heartfelt and open-minded. Whether this alleged Danish hostility towards foreigners is accurate will not be discussed, but merely kept in mind in the analysis of different mediators presentation of Denmark. The aim of this project is to analyse how different cultural mediators present Denmark and Danish cultural products. In my analysis I will determine what is being communicated about Denmark and Danish culture and which communicational means the different mediators apply in their material. I will give attention to three main areas in my analysis, these are: 1) living local culture, 2) history & art and 3) brand identity. The analysis consists of both a comparative analysis and a textual analysis. The cultural mediators will be the official Danish tourism authorities, the Danish Tourist Board (DTB), and two different guidebook-publishing companies, Thomas Cook (TC) and Lonely Planet (LP) Methodology My starting point will be a discussion of today s tourism (chapter 2) by introducing several social theorists and tourism experts such as John Urry, Chris Rojek, George Ritzer, Dean MacCannell and Marie-Françoise Lanfant. They contribute to the discussion of the development of tourism. The discussion is meant to illuminate what motivates people to travel and what they seek in a destination, this is information that the cultural mediators must consider in their production of tourism communication to appeal to the tourists. In the next chapter (chapter 3) follows a presentation of the mediators of culture and tourism (chapter 3). The roles of mediators and their qualities are described. This chapter will also include a presentation of the three chosen 6

7 cultural mediators, the DTB, TC and LP. In addition, the two genres, the brochure and the guidebook will be presented. Since destination branding plays an essential role in how countries today market their destination a chapter (chapter 4) will be dedicated to destination branding and a presentation of the Danish Tourist Board s branding strategy. In this chapter the marketing and branding tools applied in the tourism industry are described. To delimitate my analysis my focal points in the three pieces of communication (the DTB brochure and the two guidebooks) will be the parts that concentrate on the main issues in Can-Seng Ooi s cultural mediation theory. These issues are living local culture, history & art, and destination branding and I will conduct a comparative analysis of how the different cultural mediators treat the Danish cultural tourism products. I have chosen those issues because they cover the areas of culture, authenticity and branding, which are my main topics. A textual discourse analysis on the selected text parts will be carried out on the basis of theories by Halliday, Hatim & Mason and others. Halliday introduced the notion of register and maintained that language varies according to its function. His theory will be used to establish which language functions the mediators have applied in their tourism communications. This will provide me with an indication (though limited to only two genres) of the communicational means applied in the tourism industry. Also Hatim & Mason s categorisation of text typology will contribute to that picture by revealing the rhetorical purposes of the chosen texts. The purpose of the comparative analysis is to illuminate whether the mediators recentre culture into the Danish cultural tourism products, the textual analysis enables me to determine which communicational means the different mediators have made use of. Though both the guidebooks and the DTB brochure contain photos and other illustrations it is not the intention of this thesis to embark on a visual discourse analysis, but rather concentrate on textual discourse analysis Empirical data The empirical data, which represent the background for this project, include the DTB s Denmark brochure and two foreign travel books about Denmark, all in English. They were chosen because they were published within the span of only one year, 2003 and 2002 subsequently, which make 7

8 them suitable for comparison. Parts of these will be analysed. Moreover, The material is chosen because it represents three different senders, the Danish national tourism authorities, the British publishing company Thomas Cook and the Australian publishing company Lonely Planet. Bearing in mind the differences in cultural background the interesting aspects of the comparative analysis and the textual discourse analysis are in which ways the empirical data differ. Emphasis will not be concentrated on the culture of the senders but instead of their presentations of one culture, the Danish. 2. Tourism today It was generally not until the nineteenth century that people outside the upper class began travelling for purposes other than work or business. There has been a historical shift in ways and methods of travelling from the individual traveller to what may be called the mass tourist. Today travelling has become a status symbol in modern communities, and many consider the break from the everyday life healthy and necessary. The introduction of mass tourism has made holidaying cheaper and within reach of more people. What characterises mass tourism is when the majority of the population has the opportunity (and the money) to travel to a place away from the normal place of residence or work and gaze at new or unfamiliar places for reasons connected to pleasure rather than business. (Urry 1990) The current airline price war on the low fare airline market (see appendix 1) has made travelling even less costly and manageable to people from most class levels in society (in the Western world). Arguably this new travel method will change (if it has not done so already) today s travel habits, because it allows tourists to construct individual holiday experiences on a feasibly financial budget. Many social theorists and tourism experts have participated in the discussion of tourism and some of the most recognised will be introduced throughout chapter 2. (See appendix 2 for bibliographies) The main aspects that will be discussed here are cultural identity and the tourists motivations for holidaying, including the search for authenticity and the McDonaldization of society. 8

9 2.1. Cultural identity The prevalence of tourism in the world economy generates internationalisation and standardisation of cultures and extroversion of societies. This internationalisation embraces aspects as mobility, displacement, discontinuity and inconstancy. These aspects being domains of internationalisation are in contrast with the issue of cultural identity. The tourism industry displays itself as favouring a return to the basics, travelling back to the roots and discovering natural regions previously untouched. Lanfant argues that there is a paradox because on the one hand, the spread of tourism in the world economy leads to extroversion, internationalisation and deterritorialization. On the other hand, it works towards the retrenchment of identities in a territory, a system of filiation and patrimony, all acting as a fulcrum. (Lanfant 1995: 9). Turner & Ash are also concerned with the fact that destinations become more homogeneous and turn out to be a small monotonous world that everywhere shows us our own image the pursuit of the exotic and diverse ends in uniformity (1975: 292). According to Lanfant there is even another paradox, because tourism forces the societies to modernise while at the same time expects them to reinvent their past, maintain old traditions preserving the traditional image that matches the perceptions the tourists have of the destination. This fixing of an image has made the society a living museum. Bali must look like Bali, extol its admirers, May Bali stay true to itself (Lanfant 1995: 11). The subject of cultural identity is ubiquitous within discourse about tourism. Moreover, a culture s continued existence requires that it makes a place of its own in order to be distinguished from others. According to this approach every culture has an individual character, which assures the culture of its own authenticity. Signs of identification are produced to market a destination, and according to Lanfant, these signs are transported to the population, which are then employed to convey the character traits of the culture to tourists. Tourism promotion forms the image of a destination, and then coordinates the motivational systems of possible future guests by the elements of its identity. 9

10 The inviting tourism publications present images that may be in accordance with the tourists conceptions of the destination rather than in accordance with the population reality. The destination is presented in a seductive manner, which may even seduce the native population. Harrison argues that certain (stereotypical) image traits or human groups are maintained to fulfil the needs of the market, and as a result the image of the cultural identity of the destination and its population becomes the norm, which one should respect. (Lanfant 1995) It has been argued that certain national traits are not merely preserved, but the ideal identity is also to some extent simulated in order to please tourists. These tourists are searching for something their own society has lost whether it be purity, originality, sincerity, casualty or freedom. (Lanfant 1995) In the attempts to differentiate a destination from its competition, focus is put on the attributes the destination possesses and what makes it diverse from others rather than on what it really is like. In effect the many facets of the destination culture, which are similar to other cultures, are, to some extent, being ignored. Accordingly, destination identities are produced by differences from others (Ooi 2002). MacCannell (1992: 38) calls this a hyper-reality, because to provide the tourists with the required authenticity, the visited society willingly reinvents itself and creates a new tradition that is presented as being true. This manufactured tradition is created to match the tourists ideals. MacCannell depicts how a society is being transformed into a system of tourist attractions that operates as a system of signs. The objects or places visited by tourists are identified by certain traits, which are indicated with a marker by which the object or place becomes unique. (Lanfant 1995) According to Ooi the three most common and accepted groupings of cultural products are destination brand identity, living everyday local life, and history & art Tourist gaze In 1990 John Urry introduced the notion of the tourist gaze, where he argued that when tourists go on a holiday and consume the goods and services of tourism, it is about getting away and experiencing something or some place that is different from the everyday experiences. The tourists gaze at places, scenes and landscapes that are unlike the ordinary. Urry has set out nine characteristics of tourism. 10

11 Tourism according to Urry (1990: 2-3): 1) Tourism is a leisure activity, which presupposes its opposite, namely regulated and organised work. 2) Tourist relationships arise from a movement of people to, and their stay in, various destinations. 3) The journey and the stay are to, and in, sites which are outside the normal places of residence and work. 4) The places gazed upon are for purposes that are not directly connected with paid work and normally they offer some distinctive contrast with work. 5) A substantial proportion of the population of modern societies engages in such tourist practices. 6) Places are chosen to be gazed upon because there is an anticipation, especially through daydreaming and fantasy, of intense pleasures. 7) The tourist gaze is directed to features of landscape and townscape which separate them off from everyday experience. 8) The gaze is constructed through signs, and tourism involves the collection of signs. 9) An array of tourist professionals develop[,] who attempt to reproduce ever-new objects of the tourist gaze. Urry believes that the object of the gaze is central to tourism, however, realises that Campbell s point of view about consumption makes good sense. Campbell claims that covert daydreaming and expectation are central elements in modern consumerism, where the consumers contentment arrives from anticipation and the search for enjoyment, rather than from the concrete product, in the phases of collection, purchase and use. The consumers seek to achieve in reality what has so far only been an imaginary experience. The product can, however, not completely replace the imaginary with reality and therefore the purchase leads to disillusionment and a desire for more products. (Urry 1990) 2.3. Mass society tourist vs. authenticity seeking tourist Dean MacCannell was the first to introduce the discussion of the search for authenticity. (1973) He argued that due to a stressing lifestyle people had an urge to rediscover their identity to create stability in their lives. According to MacCannell this stability had to be found in the past and in 11

12 cultures with an untouched and primitive lifestyle. MacCannell s definition of authenticity has founded the notion of authenticity within tourism as it is regarded today. An object or an event must be presented in correspondence to reality to be regarded as authentic. The aspect of authenticity has been one of the indicators theorists have used to distinguish between the mass tourist and the authenticity-seeking tourist. The mass tourists are claimed to enjoy inauthentic invented attractions, and what Boorstin calls pseudo-events (Boorstin 1976) and are unconcerned with authenticity. He distinguishes between what is real (authentic) and what is unreal (pseudo). According to Turner & Ash (1975) the mass tourists are held by the hand by travel agents, couriers, hotel managers and tour guides, who protect them from the real world, and lead to selected parts of the local cultures. These parts are available for translation, whereas other cultural objects may not be understood by foreigners. Cohen (1988) has a more varied picture of the tourist and of tourist experiences. The experiential, the experimental, and the existential tourists do not simply lean on the common tourist services, but reject the organised tourist activities. Cohen s tourism theory is in conflict with that of Boorstin s in respect to the search or lack of search for the authentic culture, as is MacCannell who argues that all tourists are on a quest for authenticity. MacCannell rejects Boorstin s upper-class view : other are tourists, I am a traveller. (Boorstin 1976: 107). Hence Boorstin regards everyone else to be mass tourists who do not engage in the search for authenticity, however, considers himself as the authenticity-seeking tourist. This distinction between the tourist and the traveller is used to separate the mass tourist (the tourist) from the authenticity-seeking tourist (the traveller). This distinction leads to the discussion of real holidaying. Barrett, the author of The Independent Guide to Real Holidays Abroad, claims that real holidays have two characteristics. The first is to visit a place far away from the popular holiday resorts, the second is to travel by small specialist agents or tour operators who engage in niche tourism. (Urry 1990) According to MacCannell (1973) the search of authenticity embraces also the interest in the real lives of others. For instance many sorts of work are displayed and have become an object of the tourist gaze. These sorts of real lives, MacCannell argues, are, however, merely displayed and 12

13 not delivered in an upright manner; the reality can only be found behind the scene. MacCannell argues that tourist spaces are staged and only a so-called authenticity. In response to the tourist gaze, attractions are provided to protect the people backstage and make a profit. Dissimilarly to Boorstin, MacCannell argues that pseudo-events do not arise from the individual s quest for inauthenticity, but merely from the social relations of tourism Modernism and tourism vs. post-modernism and post-tourism According to Urry (1990) culture has obtained a more central role in how contemporary societies are organised today. He argues that their contemporary cultures can be described as postmodern. Postmodernism embraces a varied picture of culture including different cultural aspects such as tourism, art, architecture, media, sport, education, shopping and more. The term tourist gaze is by Urry inevitably linked with other social and cultural practises, which means that according to him tourism as a term is more extensive than presumed earlier. Urry argues that today tourism is less specific and more universal and people are therefore often acting as tourists whether they are aware of it or not. It has been argued earlier that daydreaming plays an important factor in modern consumerism, not least in concerns to holiday-making. In this connection Urry claims that daydreaming is a social activity more than an individual activity, because one is affected by the media, literature, cinema, photography etc. The idea of the post-tourist is based on the belief that the tourism patterns are always changing. Urry (1990) considers tourism today to be mainly post-modern, but has not ruled out aspects of modernist tourism. The term mass has been applied to tourism implying how a majority of tourist activities has been managed since the late nineteenth century. The modernist views the public as one homogeneous mass, which finds the same treatment and options of holidaying appealing. In the case of tourism consumption, Urry does not fully agree with Campbell, who claims that the anticipations of consumers are unrelated to specific institutional arrangements, for instance advertising. Urry has difficulties predicting daydreaming about holidaying not to involve advertising and other signs generated by the media. Urry claims that tourists today gaze upon representations of attractions and sights through different media. These representations visualised on postcards, in guidebooks and in TV 13

14 programmes enable the tourists to feel the attractions or visualise them in their minds. Urry suggests that if the tourists visit these attractions, which neglect to satisfy the tourists expectations, the representations e.g. the photos in the guidebook will make up the reality in the minds of the tourists. (1990) Should this be the case, guidebooks and other forms of cultural mediations have great power in the tourists holiday evaluations. Ooi also ascribes this quality to the cultural mediators. (2002) Ritzer and Liska (Rojek et al 1997) wish to emphasise that though society and hence tourism have undergone dramatic changes, there has not necessarily been a shift from one epoch to another. They consider different aspects of looking at the modern and the post-modern society. Some sociologists argue that there has been no shift from modernity to post-modernity, but merely society has made modernity more advanced. Others believe society has changed so immensely that the modern society is too dissimilar to society today and a new social form has developed. (Rojek et al 1997) On the Internet tourists have many opportunities to travel the world and can easily jump from one place to the other with a click on the mouse. It is highly unlikely that virtual touring will be the death of tourism, but Ritzer and Liska point out the comfort and calculability of visiting Bali from ones living room. Several social theorists have participated in the discussion of posttourism and its basic aspects, which are: (Rojek et al 1997: 102) 1. The post-tourist is less required to travel outside home because the new technologies provide the tourist with opportunities to gaze at tourist attractions on their computer or television set. 2. Post-tourism has become highly eclectic, and the post-tourist has an increasingly high number of choices as new attractions arise and new tourism forms such as eco-tourism and lifestyle cruises develop. 3. Post-tourists are regarded as participating in a game or series of games, and they acknowledge this argument. Ritzer and Liska are not convinced that the development of modern society has been so dramatic to meet the criteria of an entirely new social form. However, they use the terms as indicators of 14

15 the changes in society, rather than settling whether or not we are dealing with two different social forms. Since this discussion of modernity or post-modernity is insignificant as to the analysis or the conclusion of this thesis I will leave it to the interested reader to pursue further information among social theorists. Nevertheless the terms modernism, post-modernism, tourism, and post-tourism will be applied in this thesis as indicators of past and present to point to the transformations in society and thus tourism. The focal point will be the changes in tourism practises and experiences McDonaldization of the tourism industry Local: Tourist: Local: Tourist (thinking): You wanna drink snake blood? No thanks Like every tourist you are all the same. Just like America So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar. Never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep an open mind and suck in the experience and if it hurts, its probably worth it. The only downer is everyone else has got the same idea. We all travel thousands of miles just to watch TV and check in to somewhere with all the comforts of home. You gotta ask yourself what is the point in that? (Scene in the motion picture The Beach staring Leonardo DeCaprio as the tourist) The general picture drawn by most tourism authors is that people go away with the wish to experience something out of the ordinary, and tourist experiences to some extent include features that generate tourist gazes that are different from the everyday the tourist has left behind (for a short while). Urry argues that despite the search for the unfamiliar, other elements of the production of tourist experiences may well be very familiar to the tourist, so that he feels comfortably homey. The combination of the familiar and known with the unfamiliar and unknown in society is by Ritzer and Liska named McDonaldization, which is derived from the modern perspective; the 15

16 McDonaldization of society. The main author, George Ritzer, regards the world as becoming increasingly efficient, calculable, predictable and dominated by controlling non-human technologies (Rojek et al 1997: 97). The interesting aspect of this perspective in our case is how also tourism is growing more and more McDonaldized. If MacDonald s has been the manifest of rationality for society in general, Disney represents the tourist industry. Ritzer and Liska regard the Disney theme parks as being the main contributor to bringing the principles of McDonaldization to the tourist industry. Hence they produced a new phenomenon; the McDisneyization of the tourist industry. The influence the Disney theme parks have had on the tourist industry, according to Ritzer and Liska, has let to a McDonaldization of at least parts of tourism. They refer to a McDisneyizing of for example cruise ships, other amusement parks, theme parks, and casinos, and they argue that these tourist attractions increasingly embrace the principles of McDonaldization (calculability, predictability, efficiency and non-human technologies). Bryman (Bryman 1995) has studied the case of the Disney theme parks using the process of McDonaldization and discovered them to be very similar. The Disney theme parks are highly efficient in handling the large number of visitors. They have set prices and packaged tours, which to some extent ensure the visitors a certain level of calculability, as do the signs indicating how long one can expect to wait at a given attraction. With the day or week entry passes which include all rides inside the park and with the high cleaning standards, including cleaning up animal droppings after the parades, the visitors avoid being unpleasantly surprised and hence the parks are very predictable. The technological accomplishments in the theme parks are numerous. The attractions and rides are highly mechanical and electronic and also human performances are controlled by non-human technologies, such as lip synchronising. Anybody who has visited a Disney theme park, including myself, will be reluctant to agree with all the elements of Bryman analysis. Though the theme parks are extremely rationalised they do, however, often appear irrational and inefficient due to the long lines at attractions. The costly restaurants risk making the vacation very incalculable not to mention all the additional offers of gifts and toys. This means that due to the incalculability the visits may also be unpredictable. 16

17 As mentioned, Urry argues that today tourism has moved from modernism to post-modernism. (Rojek et al 1997) Although Urry considers inflexible standardised package tours to be in decline, which is in opposition to the claims of the McDonaldization of tourism, Ritzer and Liska agree with Urry in respect to the change from very rigid to more flexible, but yet still package tours. They believe there has been a shift in the level of flexibility provided in these package tours, however, they still firmly believe in the McDonaldization. The reason why tourism (and here mainly the package tour) leaves room for flexibility is because most of the rest of the larger society has been McDonaldized. An example used is standardised food that ensures tourists a level of predictability and familiarity. In societies where people are familiar with the McDonaldization, Ritzer and Liska depict people to desire a certain standard for their vacation. (Rojek et al 1997: 97) 1. Highly predictable vacations, or at least a vacation with only few surprises. As peoples everyday lives become increasingly predictable, it can be argued that unaccustomed to surprises people are less tolerant towards them. Unpleasant food is not on the top of the tourists list, even if it means experiencing a part of the destinations culture. 2. Highly efficient vacations, because when living in a high efficiency society, the leisure time must also be very efficient, visitors wish to make the most of their vacation and to receive value for money. 3. Highly calculable vacations, visitors prefer in advance to have a set price for the vacation or a least an estimate of the costs as well as an itinerary indicating what to see and when and where. 4. Highly controlled vacations, preference for experiencing personnel that is controlled by agreements, scripts etc. instead of those who are free to act as they please. It can be argued that the above aspects add a dehumanising character to tourism, however, the central point here is that Ritzer and Liska s McDonaldization of the tourism industry is in disagreement with Urry and MacCannell, who both depict how travelling is about experiencing new and unfamiliar things and about being on a quest for authenticity. They would presumably argue that McDonaldization is challenging the basic reason for tourism, and that the authenticityseeking tourist does exist. 17

18 So McDonaldized tourism signifies homogeneity in contrast to specialised niche tourism that implies diversity. Ritzer and Liska argue that though more and more niche tourist products are offered, they still believe McDonaldization can compete. They realise, though, that the future in this concept lies in whether the industry is able to spread it out into niche markets. They are convinced that people will continue to travel and visit places in their leisure time, and yet they acknowledge the entry of virtual touring in the form of travelling on e.g. the Internet. 3. Mediation Several texts are mediated by the mass media, which employ copying techniques to spread their message. The media used are for instance telephone, the Internet, print, television etc. Some of these interactions are very close to ordinary conversation e.g. telephone interactions, which are co-present in time but distant in place. Others are both distant in time and in place and very dissimilar to ordinary conversation. A printed book, written by one or several authors is read by an unknown number of people who are separated in time and space. The text then associates diverse social events, firstly, the writing of the book and secondly, the different social events in relation to reading or discussing the book. (Fairclough 2003) Two guidebooks and a brochure are the empirical data analysed in this project. As they all communicate about a country and its culture to tourists from different countries and cultures there must be focus on the separation in space, in particular. The point here is that it is important to keep in mind the at times very low level of cultural insight that tourists have. Therefore the mediators occupied with cultural mediation must possess cultural knowledge of both the readers culture and the culture he or she communicates about Cultural mediators Already in 1975 the concept of cultural mediators was introduced. George Steiner stressed that: the translator is a bilingual mediating agent between monolingual communication participants in two different language communities. (1975: 45) Unlike the emphasis of this project, Steiner s emphasis was linguistic mediation focusing solely on the role of the translator. Therefore, the more comprehensive definition of cultural mediation introduced in 1981 by R. Taft is a better 18

19 match to the type of mediation discussed here. Taft describes the role of the cultural mediator as follows: A cultural mediator is a person who facilitates communication, understanding, and action between persons or groups who differ with respect to language and culture. The role of the mediator is performed by interpreting the expressions, intentions, perceptions, and expectations of each cultural group to the other, that is, by establishing and balancing the communication between them. In order to serve as a link in this sense, the mediator must be able to participate to some extent in both cultures. Thus a mediator must be to a certain extent bicultural. (Taft 1981: 53) In Taft s definition he also argues that a mediator must hold a number of qualities in both cultures to be successful. (1981: 73) They are: Knowledge about society: history, folklore, traditions, customs, values, prohibitions, the natural environment and its importance, neighbouring people, important people in society, etc. Communication skills: written, spoken and non-verbal communication. Technical skills: those required by the mediator s status, e.g. computer literacy, appropriate dress etc. Social skills: knowledge of rules that govern social relations in society and emotional competence, e.g. the appropriate level of self-control. Thus the cultural mediator must acquire specific details on the two cultures. In respect to the DTB brochure, which is distributed by the DTB s London office, it portrays Denmark on the British market. In this case the mediator (the DTB) must hold cultural knowledge of the British and the Danish culture. In the cases of the guidebooks the distinction is less obvious because they are sold in bookstores all over the world and on the Internet, and they address a general English-speaking audience. Since English is an internationally recognised language, greatly helped by the introduction of the Internet, many English-speaking people may originate from a large number of countries, including countries where English is not the first language. Thus, the guidebooks must apply a multicultural approach. 19

20 A British company publishes the Thomas Cook guidebook, whereas an Australian company publishes the Lonely Planet guidebook. Therefore we are dealing with multiple cultures both in respects to sender and receiver orientation. This must be taken into consideration when producing the texts. This project will not discuss whether the three cultural mediators have made efforts to reach readers from various cultures, but merely try to establish how they portray the Danish culture. The different genres, image/product brochures and guidebooks, differ considerably and descriptions of the two will follow in chapters 3.4. and 3.6. As mentioned in the introduction the two types of communication, however, have the same overall communicative purpose, namely to present Denmark and Danish cultural products. Furthermore they fit the categorisation of a cultural mediator made by R. Taft (1891: 53) as they facilitate communication, understanding, and action between persons or groups who differ in respect to language and culture. In their presentations of Denmark they moreover interpret the expressions, intentions, perceptions, and expectations of each cultural group to the other. In this context the role of the cultural mediator is, however, more extensive than explained by Taft. This thesis concerns cultural mediators that not only facilitate communication between people from different cultures, but also explain and interpret the cultural products to foreign tourists who lack local knowledge of the destination. Without that knowledge the tourists only consume fleeting signs and events of the culture and they do not acquire a thorough understanding of the culture. This is what Ooi depicts as recentring culture into the cultural products; hence the cultural mediators play an active role in the recentring process. This process may involve three procedures. (Ooi 2002: 222) They are: 1. Interesting and significant local cultural elements are pointed out to and packaged for tourists. 2. Selected intangible cultural meanings and interpretations are reified and introduced into the product. 20

21 3. In varying degrees with different products, the presented cultural elements are shown to be real and authentic in the local society, and not fabricated. In many cases, authenticity is reaffirmed experientially by tourists. There are different types of cultural products, which can be categorised under three different headings: living local cultures, history & art, and brand identity. They can be experienced in various ways such as going local and experiencing authenticity ( living local cultures), acquiring a historical and aesthetic appreciation (history & art) and obtaining an authentic sense of place (brand identity). These three categories will be introduced in chapter Presenting culture Boniface presumed that if a cultural product is portrayed well, the universal values of the product will fulfil the consumers needs, and this is obtained with by help from the mediators. (Ooi 2002) Local values and customs are difficult for leisure tourists to grasp, when they are unacquainted with the culture, and distortions and inventions are easily perceived as the reality. Hereby the culture is being decentred into transitory signs and sights. Cultural products are assumed to be authentic and real. Hence to live up to these expectations, the cultural mediators must recentre the real culture into the products. Ooi argues, though, that the cultural reality, which tourists have seen and embraced most likely is rooted in transient experiences. Yet the mediators endeavour to recentre authentic culture into the products. These mediators are the guides to the local cultures, and as Ooi claims, guides to tourists emotions and experiences. Consequently, how the tourists sense authenticity has a share in their cultural experiences. In this situation the sense of authenticity substitutes authenticity of the product. Due to the lack of local knowledge, the tourists may not be able to distinguish between the local cultures and the packaged products, and only a minority will devote much time to fully comprehend the culture of the destination. Instead the tourists make sense of the culture by means of their transitory and subjective experiences. The image the tourists ascribe to the destination is, however, influenced by the cultural mediators to a greater or a smaller extent. To Ooi it is to be expected that there is a difference from the packaged culture and the culture itself. 21

22 Effectively, the packaged products are highlighted signs and sights attempting to attract the attention of tourists. These are characteristics of post-modern tourism consumption. In Urry s theory on the tourist gaze he assumed that the tourists search for the distinctive experience that makes up a contrast to their everyday lives. In effect certain locations become tourist attractions because they present experiences that are unique and unlike any other of the tourists own normal experiences. In consequence, the significance of a tourist attraction is founded on tourists interpretations and conceptions of the place or product, and not on the natural values of the culture itself. These interpretations are constituted by the tourists through their view of the world and with the information supplied by cultural mediators. (Ooi 2002) Ooi considers aura as a basis of authenticity, and ascribes it an exceptionally incomparable status that allures tourists. (Ooi 2002) W. Benjamin believed that any reproduction of a piece of art, as perfect it may seem, is missing the aura of the original, and also the presence of time and space. He argued that reproduction produces the sense of the universal equality of things (Benjamin 1968: ) by demolishing the aura of an exceptional object. Recentring, however, is the re-introduction of culture and aura into cultural tourism products, which enhances the cultural elements of the products. Ooi argued that the recentring of culture involves at least two sets of processes; one draws the attention of the tourists to unique cultural aspects, which are at risk of being overlooked, and another is involved in the packaging and the consumption of the products. The cultural mediators strive to convince the tourists that the products are authentic and not manufactured merely for commercial purposes. They teach the tourists how to approach the products with a sense of the products aura. (Ooi 2002) 3.3. Official tourism authorities and the DTB Tourist boards each have their ways of marketing or branding their own destination. The Danish Tourist Board (DTB) and Wonderful Copenhagen (WoCo) are the official tourism authorities of Denmark. The DTB and the Ministry of Business and Industry are the national tourism authorities, whereas WoCo is the official congress and tourism organisation for the Greater Copenhagen Area. The DTB considers itself a link between the tourism industry and other businesses, and on the DTB s homepage, it is affirmed that: 22

23 Det er Danmarks turistråds formål at fremme Danmark som turistmål og herigennem at skabe økonomisk vækst inden for de danske turisterhverv og afledte erhverv. Translated into English by Can-Seng Ooi (2002: 113): The Danish Tourist Board should support and supplement the efforts made by the Danish authorities, businesses, institutions and others to widen the knowledge of Denmark and promote ordinary Danish society and business interests. The DTB and WoCo do not licence the private business sector, but the DTB has a certain control over the local tourist centres in the country, and invites the local centres and private tourism agencies to comply with the Denmark branding values in promoting and displaying Denmark. Both the DTB and WoCo are state-supported tourism agencies, and together with other official tourism authorities in Denmark they contribute to tourism development and make efforts to create a Denmark that is attractive to tourists and business investments. A fine line exists between public interests and private business; therefore, the different official tourism authorities in Denmark do not offer direct support to private travel companies in manufacturing marketing material or product development. (Ooi 2002) As mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, tourist boards operate differently, and an example of a different approach to that of the Danish Tourist Board is the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The STB is the official tourism and promotion agency of Singapore (consider visiting The STB cooperates with the National Heritage Board, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the National Arts Council in attempts to make awareness about Singapore. As the DTB the STB has also embarked on a branding strategy. In 2004 the STB released a new branding strategy called: Uniquely Singapore that replaces the branding strategy from 1996 called: New Asia Singapore. Contrary to the DTB the STB licences tour operators and travel agencies by subsidising those travel agents who comply with the branding strategy and product policies of the STB. Also on other areas the STB seems to stretch further than the DTB, for instance with its commitments to organising festivals like the Singapore river Buskers Festival, the ethnic festival illuminations etc. The support and 23

24 commitment to the private tourism business has caused a state of dependence on the STB. (Ooi 2002) I will not comment further on the STB, since I merely introduced it to demonstrate the differences between national tourism authorities. In the following only the DTB will be dealt with Image and product brochures According to Winnie Johansen the prototypes of product and image brochures can be defined as: communications that by means of verbal or non-verbal codes focus on providing an informative presentation of the company s products or the company itself. This is accomplished by presenting information about organisational or cultural circumstances, which increases the awareness of the company s character. (Frandsen et al 1997) Finn Frandsen argues that the brochure has several communicative purposes. These can be divided into a main and some sub purposes. The main purpose is to present the general facts and circumstances of a product or a company to interested parties, and hereby obtain recognition and create a positive image in the minds of the receivers. There may be more than one sub purpose for instance to inform about the company s products, event or innovations, to encourage to contact, to attract investors or to function as a user manual or guide. (1997) The communicative purposes of the brochure resemble that of branding (this topic will be described in chapter 4.1.) because they both intent to inform the receiver of the company s identity in order to create a desired image with the receivers. It can be argued that branding is the overall strategy, whereas the brochure is a means to express this strategy. Because the image and product brochures are produced deliberately to generate positive feelings in the minds of the receivers, it is questionable whether the brochures provide a completely realist and objective picture of the company and its products. The DTB brochure is a product brochure, as it communicates about Denmark as a destination, hence Danish cultural products Guidebook publishing companies Two different guidebooks about Denmark have been chosen for this project, one published by Thomas Cook publishing in 2003, and the other published by Lonely Planet in

25 The UK based company, Thomas Cook, is a leading travel company and Thomas Cook Publishing is a division of Thomas Cook Holding Ltd. The company claims to have the world s leading travel experts (Symington 2003). The guidebook is written by British travel author Michael Symington. Lonely Planet is an Australian company that claims to be the world s leading independent travel publisher. ( The authors of the guidebook, Glenda Bendure and Ned Friary are both from the USA, where they live and write for Lonely Planet. (Bendure et al 2002) 3.6. Guidebooks Contrary to the image and product brochures the guidebooks are inclined to employ a realistic form. They are not promotional communications and do not deliberately intent to create a unique and coherent image in order to follow a branding strategy. They do not represent the fictional genre, which indicates that they are intrinsic and truthful. Whether the guidebooks portray the destination with completely objective and apolitical eyes can, however, be argued. ( - see appendix 3) As previously argued the overall communicative purpose of the guidebook is to present a destination and its cultural products to tourists, which is achieved by providing geographical, cultural and historical information about the destination. A sub purpose is to function as a user s manual or guide enabling the tourists to find their way around a destination. 4. Tourism marketing Today marketing is more comprehensive than merely promoting a product and obtaining sales. In the last decades there has been a change of focus in marketing approaches, and focus has been directed at the consumer rather than on the product. This is due to the growing acknowledgement of how important it is to satisfy the needs and values of the consumers. As the consumers become more prosperous and experience an increasingly wider range of choices, also in the tourism industry, the demand of consumer satisfaction enhances. Since the consumer is in focus 25