Discourse and the governance of diversity in England's official tourism texts

Abstract

Through a focus on selected ‘texts’, this paper critiques the discursive representation of ethno-cultural diversity by Official Tourism Organisations (OTOs) in England. Embracing a social constructionist philosophy and using the method of critical discourse analysis (CDA), three text ‘types’ identified as promotional texts (brochure and web-based texts), operational texts (texts produced as part of the operational practice of the organisations) and interview texts (transcriptions of interviews with representatives of OTOs) were analysed. Utilising a threedimensional approach to written language as text, as discourse practice and as social practice, the research sought to probe representations of ethno-cultural diversity by OTOs in England in order to inform understanding of the constructed inter-textual nature of such discursive practices and their embeddedness in broader trajectories of institutional governance in and through tourism. The interpretative findings derived from this approach to ‘text’ suggest that discourses of denial, equality, otherness and silence are routinely deployed by OTOs vis-à-vis ethnic minority populations in England. It is argued that such projective practices reflect deeper patterns of political and institutional exclusion of ‘minority’ cultures and identities. This raises questions relating to the ways in which OTOs may conceivably foreground, appropriate, institutionalise or deny ethno-cultural diversity when projecting aspects of heritage and identity in and through tourism.