The content of Third World tourism marketing: a 4A approach

Tourism to the Third World continues to grow and, correspondingly, the promotion of these regions is increasingly popular and important. Although some concerns have been voiced about the images contained in Third World tourism marketing, there has been no extensive examination of its content to date. Accordingly, in this study, the verbal and visual components of 115 brochures for 12 Third World countries are analysed. To facilitate a detailed content analysis of these brochures, a ‘4A’ approach is introduced, focusing on attractions (natural and man‐made), actors (hosts and tourists), actions and atmosphere. This comprehensive inventory reveals that Third World countries are clustered into three groups, namely Oriental, sea–sand and frontier. It is shown that by emphasising and stereotyping certain attractions, actors, actions and atmospheres, certain overarching tourism myths are created around Third World destinations.