The stuff of which dreams are made: representations of the South Sea in German-language tourist brochures

Abstract

The ways in which the South Pacific islands are represented in German-language tourist brochures is investigated. Our discussion of these brochure representations will examine the contrasts between tourism advertising imagery and the day-to-day interactions of tourists and locals in the islands represented. Informed by literature on motives for travel, tourist brochures, place promotion and commodification, we will discuss how German, Swiss and Austrian tourism operators depend on a deep-seated desire on the part of tourists to engage with a mythical paradisal Utopia. Common to many cultures, Utopia represents dreams of a better reality. We emphasise therefore that in addition to the now well-documented paradisal element of island tourism promotion, German-speaking tourists are enticed to the South Pacific by advertising references to it as a place where dreams may be fulfilled.