Exploring and Analyzing Cultural Issues in English and Arabic Tourist Advertisements

Abstract

CrossRef DOI 

Advertisements play an important role in the tourism industry and are a crucial part of tourism discourse. The tourism text is not merely discourse to be transcoded, but it is embedded within a sociocultural background. The aim of this study is to expose how the 'nature' theme is used differently to promote tourism in different cultures. This paper examines and explores the discourse employed by English and Arabic tourist advertisements promoting Malaysia as a tourist destination. Based on domain or ideological categories, these advertisements try to convince potential customers to become travelers by meeting their cultural needs and motivations. Under the shadow of the comparative literature, the paper makes a comparison between the English and the Arabic advertisements focusing on convergences and divergences of cultural issues and motivations. Vocatively, the English and the Arabic tourist texts promoting Malaysia have been analyzed lexically, thematically, and the most important, culturally. Finally, tourist attractions are extremely ingrained in the norms and culture of a country.