The study aims at comparing the ways in which different cultures perceive the experience of cycling holidays by analysing texts that promote this kind of tourism, i.e., website texts produced in three linguistic and cultural realities: Germany, Italy, and The Netherlands. The underlying assumption is that promotional tourism texts are influenced by the cultural peculiarities of their target groups: in order to produce functionally effective texts, authors must take into account their readers' attitudes and expectations towards a specific destination or – as in this case – a specific activity. The comparison focuses on the different profiles of potential clients addressed by the texts and on the main topics used as “promotional levers”. Some translations in German and Dutch are then analysed to ascertain whether they reflect the same differences and cultural characteristics found between the original texts. Finally, the benefits of linking Translation Studies and Imagology are briefly discussed.
TopBackground
As was stated in the introduction, tourism as an economic activity and a social phenomenon has been gaining more and more importance in today’s world. A parallel development can be observed in the field of Translation Studies: while in the past tourism translation was a rather neglected area of research, since the early ’90s tourist texts in general and tourist promotional texts in particular have increasingly drawn the attention of many translation scholars, such as Hatim (2004), Kelly (1998), Kristensen (2002), Martinez (2000), Mason (2004), Sanning (2010), Snell-Hornby (1999), Sulaiman (2016), Sumberg (2004). In Italy, where the economy is strongly tourism based, this growing interest is even more evident;1 among the numerous studies, one could mention Agorni (2012), Calvi (2010), Cappelli (2008), Celotti (2011), Federici (2007), Francesconi (2007), Giambagli (2013), Katan (2012), Lombardi (2014), Manca (2004), Palazzi (2013), Palusci & Francesconi (2006), Pierini (2007), Tognini Bonelli & Manca (2004), and Torresi (2013).