Tourism representation and strategies on public signs: linguistic landscape of a Saudi southern tourist destination
International Journal of Tourism Cities
ISSN: 2056-5607
Article publication date: 9 January 2024
Issue publication date: 24 April 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate multilingual representation on public signs in the High City tourist destination in Abha, Saudi Arabia. It also reveals the linguistic strategies used in such representation.
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory qualitative study used purposive sampling to analyze bottom-up public signs collected from the target tourist destination. A preliminary analysis was conducted for a more in-depth qualitative analysis of every sign. An Excel database was used to provide a general description and a preliminary reading of the strategies before using an in-depth analysis of every sign.
Findings
The study revealed that monolingualism (Arabic or English) and bilingualism (Arabic and English) represented the High City as a tourist destination where the signs served information and symbolic functions. No single multilingual sign was found. Certain linguistic strategies were used on the public signs, including politeness, transliteration, hybrid representation, personification and fragmentary. Some tourist-oriented strategies, such as the crisis communication strategy, are still missing.
Practical implications
These findings indicate that this tourist destination still targets local and regional visitors, and its linguistic landscape (LL) needs further consideration in terms of internationalization and targeting international visitors. This study implies that bilingual Arabic and English tourist destinations are potential domains for translation students and English language learners.
Originality/value
This study has focused on the LL of a newly established tourist destination in Saudi Arabia. It has shed light on the nuanced representations and strategies used through public signage. It contributes to understanding how linguistic elements can shape tourists’ perceptions and experiences.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Deanship of Scientific Research at Najran University for funding this work under the Research Groups Funding Program grant code (NU/RG/SEHRC/12/8).
Corrigendum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article, Hazaea, A.N., Al-Sofi, B.B.M.A. and Alfaifi, A. (2024), “Tourism representation and strategies on public signs: linguistic landscape of a Saudi southern tourist destination”, International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-07-2023-0130 excluded details in the acknowledgment section of the paper. The authors wish to acknowledge ‘Additionally, the authors are thankful to the Deanship of Scientific Research at University of Bisha for supporting this work through the Fast-Track Research Support Program’. The authors sincerely apologise for this error and for any misunderstanding.
Citation
Hazaea, A.N., Al-Sofi, B.B.M.A. and Alfaifi, A. (2024), "Tourism representation and strategies on public signs: linguistic landscape of a Saudi southern tourist destination", International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 302-323. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-07-2023-0130
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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