The Self-Admitted Use of Cliché, in the Language of Tourism

Against the backdrop of an ever-increasing presence of cliché in the everyday life of members of tourism generating societies, this paper focuses on its employment in the language of tourism promotion. After examining the etymology, qualities, and types of cliché in general, attention is principally directed to its self-admitted utilization in various media of the language of tourism as this discourse operates at all stages of a trip. Some of the advantages of tourism cliché are investigated and typical examples of the genre are supplied. They include their seeming ability to provide security, give people what they want, reveal hidden truths, and act as vehicles of memory. The corresponding disadvantages comprise clichés as agents of gendered and political control, self-perpetuating mechanisms of inevitability, meaningless expressions, and imposed stereotypical imagery. It is argued that cliché is more than simply a two-edged sword since the balance tips so unevenly towards miscommunication. Indeed, the constant use of cliché can often amount to an irresponsible abuse of tourism's promotional language.