Destination Image/Branding of Sicily and the Mafia phenomenon: a corpus-based analysis of keywords in English guidebooks

Through an analysis of tourism discourse – more specifically, of the English language as a specialised and promotional discourse in the tourism field – this study examines critically the manner in which three English language guidebooks to the island of Sicily address the Mafia phenomenon. Whether viewed positively (Sicily as a ‘film tourism’ destination) or as a potential risk factor, the Mafia is arguably an aspect taken into account by tourists when visiting the island. Hence, the study seeks to investigate how and to what extent the tourism discourse, when applied in guidebooks to describe the Mafia, may modify, positively or otherwise, the potential tourists’ destination image of Sicily. A combined methodological approach, both qualitative and quantitative, is adopted. Specifically, the Corpus Linguistics approach is privileged to extract quantitative data; a qualitative analysis is derived from the percentage data interpreted from a linguistic perspective. The results of the research suggest that, whilst the guidebooks may influence potential tourists’ destination image, that influence is largely positive. In addition, the research contributes to a further reflection on tourism discourse used for promotional communication to increase the tourist impact and potentially influence destination image formation and consumer purchase behaviour.