Tourismification narratives and the ‘Transformative turn’ in tourism. An analysis derived from the Spanish press debate on the Barcelona tourism model

Abstract

This article analyses the content of 2742 news items on tourismification and tourism-phobia in Barcelona published in the Spanish press between 2008 and 2020. Based on Foucault’s theoretical approach to the study of discourse and applying a content analysis method, the social construction of a tourism model is critically analysed through the examination of tourismification narratives. The dominant discourse on tourismification expressed by the Spanish press is organised into the following three narrative axes: the use of a local community point of view to highlight mass tourism as a contested social issue, governance as a solution for tourismification within the framework of the debate about the city’s tourist identity and the use of tourism-phobia as a formula for politicisation of the discourse on tourism, to influence public opinion and develop power relations. The press discourse proposes a narrative that incorporates a critical reading of tourism in place of the previous growth-based discourse. However, while this discourse advocates for tourism as an invariable, necessary and strategic element of the city, even during episodes of extreme tourism crisis, it fights shy of alternative approaches that call for a ‘transformative turn’ in tourism.