The image and identity of the Catalan coast as a tourist destination in twentieth-century tourist guidebooks

Abstract

Tourism as a social phenomenon is explained and transmitted through multiple narratives conveying an array of images and representations. Tourist images and representations contain various values and elements of identity which define the destination. The aim of this paper is to track the evolutionary development over the past century of tourism narratives, images and identities of a coastal mass tourism destination: the Catalan coast. This evolution is evaluated by means of tourist guidebooks published throughout the twentieth century. As our research shows, changing tourism narratives in guidebooks reflect the evolution of the Catalan coast as a tourist destination from the early times of tourism to the tourist boom and consolidation and up to today's hyper-mobile world. Such narratives also reflect contradictions between a unique local identity and a global identity as well as cultural and political debates such as the Spanish versus Catalan identity issue.

Keywords:

• Image
• identity
• representations
• destination evolution
• guidebooks
• Catalan coast

Acknowledgement

This study is based on research funded by the Spanish Research Agency (CSO2008-01699/GEOG).