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PROMOTING DIVERSITY VIA LINGUISTIC AND VISUAL 1
LSP International, Vol. 1, June 2014, 1–14
© Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Promoting Diversity Via Linguistic and Visual Resources: An Analysis of the
Malaysian Tourism Website
Mohammad Arfin Muhammad Salim, Nor Aireen Ibrahim, Hanita Hassan
Language Academy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The advancement of information and communication technology has greatly supported the promotion of tourism destinations.
Arguably, the most popular and effective method of promotion is through websites or blogs. Hence, along with the growth of
tourism is the development of tourism websites as the main resource for assessing information about the potential destinations.
By focusing on the official tourism website of Malaysia, this paper attempts to investigate how the website portrays the diversity
of culture, destinations and architecture of the country. Adopting a multimodal discourse approach, analysis was carried out on
both language and visual elements. It is revealed that both these resources are strategically utilised to portray the diversity of
Malaysia in an attempt to attract potential tourists.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In recent decade, the enthusiasm to explore and discover the beauty and uniqueness of the world is
becoming a trend. This is the result of the relationship between tourism and global mobility that has
enabled people to recover their sense of seeking and exploring the planet through touristic activities
(Thurlow & Jaworski, 2010). In fact, United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (2012)
recorded 1,035 million international arrivals, up from 995 million arrivals in 2011. The tourist
population movement has been shown to be closely related to how a country provides significant
information regarding the tourist attraction or destination. In addition, the fundamental source of
information on the destination for potential tourist comes from tourism promotion websites and
documents. Since they are the most efficient and effective forms of communication between tourism
organisers and the potential tourists, the exploitation of these promotional sources in the tourism
industry has grown significantly. It is also not surprising that a growing number of research is concerned
with the empirical analysis of printed promotional media such as brochures, magazines, pamphlet,
booklet, and guidebook (Salim, Ibrahim & Hassan, 2012) with only a few studies focusing on the
analysis of electronic tourism promotion, for instance, websites and blogs.
*Correspondence to: Noor Aireen Ibrahim (email: naireen@utm.my)
2 Mohammad Arfin Muhammad Salim, Nor Aireen Ibrahim & Hanita Hassan
Notwithstanding the development of information and communication technology, the use of electronic
media as part of tourism promotion is becoming a norm. The most popular and arguably the most
effective means of promotion is through websites or blogs. Loda (2011) attributes the effectiveness of
this form of online marketing to the combination of different form of linguistic and visual images to
portray the destination which help to realise the different discourses of tourism found in the websites.
For example, the language used plays an important role in the stylisation of the exoticism and
authenticity of the tourist destination (Thurlow & Jaworski, 2010). This is even more apparent in the
digital era where it is evident that language has been transformed into digitalised communication
through the internet to create a more interactive form of communication. A significant case in point is
the monologue form of interaction on the internet which has now been transformed into dialogue or
trialogue form of communication (Dann, 2012). In addition, several studies (Zhang, 2011; Molina &
Esteban, 2006; Kim, and Hwang & Fasenmaier, 2005) have pointed to the significant role played by
language in introducing and promoting the destination in order to attract and persuade potential
tourists in decision-making.
Along with the considerable growth of electronic tourism promotion in recent years (Horng & Tsai,
2010), many destination countries are now establishing or improving official government tourism
websites, with the expectation that more potential tourists will access information regarding tourist
destinations in their country (Choia, Lehto, & Morrison, 2007). Both textual and visual content of a
tourism website can provide a great deal of important information and play a significant role in the
valorisation and enhancement of the tourism products. Hence, the official tourism websites have
become an important tool in promoting and advertising local cultures, identities, uniqueness and
cuisines found in different tourist destinations (Hallett & Kaplan-Weinger, 2010; Nicoletta & Servidio,
2012). Nevertheless, there has been very little research focusing on the role of official tourism websites
in the promotion of tourist destinations (Lepp, Gibson, Lane, 2011; Lam & McKercher, 2013).
Therefore, this paper attempts to discuss the role of language and visual image in enhancing the
diversity of Malaysian tourism destinations on the Official Tourism Websites of Malaysia (OTWM).
Previous studies have shown that the diversity of cultures, ethnicities, tradition, lifestyle and religions
are salient features found in Malaysian tourism brochures (Hassan, In print).
2.0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Language for Tourism
Socially, tourism encourages the interaction of people from different language, culture and countries
and thus has become the largest population movement in the world. In contemporary discourse, tourism
has been defined as a discourse of identity construction, promotion, acceptance and recognition which
is created through the manipulation and creation of visual and linguistic elements (Hallett & Kaplan-
Weinger, 2010; Gupta, 2011). Hence, language use and semiotic modalities may be examined in the
contexts of the new paradigm of modalities in order to understand how language and semiotic as
mediators describe the social practice and social action (Leistyna, 2001; Wodak, 2006). A case in point
is the employments of certain discourse strategies in tourism discourse as a means of portraying self-
PROMOTING DIVERSITY VIA LINGUISTIC AND VISUAL 3
presentation (Hassan et al., 2008). In fact, in tourism promotion, language use particularly syntactical
and word choice plays significant role in introducing and portraying the tourists’ destinations.
Apart from the language use, visual elements play an important role in relation to tourists’ decision
making of the choice of the destination. Language use in the advertisement can demonstrate the
persuasive elements of image and language (Cook, 1994; Patpong, 2009; El Daly, 2011). Furthermore,
there are evidence to show language and visual elements play significant role in portraying the
destination, hence enhancing the tourists’ perceptions of a particular destination (Xiong, 2012).
Clearly, language and semiotic modes play a significant role in serving the representation of the
destination that language even as speech and as writing can be seen as secondary to other semiotic
modes. However, language of tourism refers to the linguistic devices which become a powerful driving
force in tourism promotion in a complex manner (Dann, 1996). In contrast, visual image can be seen as
a representation of reality (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2002). Hence, the combination between visual image
and language can create a narrative which charms and eventually influences the decision making of
potential holiday makers (Srivastava, 2012). For that reason, language and images play a very
significant role in enhancing the value of the destination and become vital factors in depicting the
identity of the destination.
2.2 Multimodal Discourse of Tourism Websites
Multimodal discourse approach is a relatively new paradigm within discourse which began in the 1990s,
which concerns the study of language and merging it with the analysis of other resources such as gesture,
sound and images (O‟Halloran, 2011).
The importance of a multimodal approach is on meaning making. Multimodal analysis should be
set off with a dynamic view on semiotic (Iedema, 2003). In fact, multimodal approach provides multiple
perspectives which link discourse and society and facilitate a better understanding of the way discourse
work in different societies (Hassan, 2012; Lirola, 2006). Therefore, the essential aspect of designing
multimodal text is the choices of how to organise it. This is influenced by the context and the imagined
audience. For example, employing the theory and practice in analysing the discourse and site encourage
the use of multi semiotic resources. Hence, the interpretation and analysis of language use are
conceptualised in relation to other semiotic resources that are in tandem with establishing the meaning.
Tourism website, an important source of information for tourists, (Pan & Fesenmaier, 2006;
Guttentag, 2010; Steen Jacobsen & Munar, 2012; Nicoletta & Servidio, 2012) is the combination of text,
picture and sound to portray the destination. Multimodal discourse approach focuses on the language,
sound and visual images used (Guo, 2004). Hence, this approach will be the most appropriate approach
to analyse tourism websites.
3.0 METHODOLOGY
Websites and blogs continue to be the most important source of information for would be tourists to
gather important decision making information about potential destinations. Brochures/advertisement
remain supporting mediation for tourists in decision-making. This study is supported by a number of
4 Mohammad Arfin Muhammad Salim, Nor Aireen Ibrahim & Hanita Hassan
previous studies on language and visual images on tourism promotion (for example, Loda, 2011; Pan,
Tsai & Lee, 2011). The main analytical focus of this study was at the micro meaning making level with
a particular interest in the use of linguistic devices, such as lexical and syntactical choices. In addition,
the visual analysis was particularly interested in examining the use of modality, salience, and collage.
The findings shed light on how the linguistic and visual elements help to illustrate the idea of a multi
diverse Malaysia to potential tourists.
As the Malaysian official tourism website consists of several pages and a plethora of accessible
links,the data collection was focused on the homepage and the selected links to the most popular tourist
destination. Data gathering was conducted by visiting the Malaysian official tourism website.
Identifying and downloading or capturing techniques were used to collect the data in particular text
and visual elements on the tourism website.
The analysis of the language and visual images of the official tourism website of Malaysia shows
that the role of the website is to portray the destination through text and visual images. Then, the
identified imagery was compared across data sources, to determine the central discursive themes which
are prevalent in the data. Often text and visual image in the websites commonly have more than one
meaning, and in this respect, multimodal emerges as a key tool in identifying and analysing the
underlying meaning of text and picture or visual image (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006). The triangulation
of the examined text and visual images on the Malaysian tourism website helps to identify themes and
ideas that govern the discourse about Malaysia as a tourist destination.
It is important to note, however, that linguistic analysis is an integrally interpretive process. The
phenomenon of promoting Malaysia as tourist’s destination can never be analysed into enduring
‘‘correct’’ themes or categories. Thus, the discursive themes noted in this study are not the only way to
conceptualise the tourist’s destination. Rather, they should basically be viewed as an organising
instrument for discussing the way that discourses about the “diversity of Malaysia” as a uniqueness
which sets it apart from other countries. These interpretations, like all interpretations proposed, but
one window into this process. Focusing on the multimodal discourse framework, textual and visual
analysis revealed a primary representation of Malaysia that can be identified as “the diversity of
Malaysia”.
4.0 RESULTS AND FINDINGS
Malaysia is commonly referred to as a multicultural society. In fact, Malaysian diversity includes
diversity in the ethnicity, culture, and religion which impact on the uniqueness and the beauty of
Malaysia (Henderson, 2003; Hassan, In print). Malaysian ethnic diversity is not only recognised by the
existence of a number of ethnic groups such as Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan, and ethnic
minorities such as the Orang Asli and the Siamese; but also of recent migrants (mostly Indonesians)
who play an important role in shaping Malaysian history and social participation in citizen-making
(Abdul Rahman, 2002). This cultural diversity which encompasses ethnic and religious variety in
Malaysia is one of the aspects that make Malaysia unique and different from other neighbouring
countries. The diversity of Malaysia is made apparent through the linguistic and visual resources found
in the data analysed. In fact, the “diversity” theme goes beyond the usual cultural diversity that has
PROMOTING DIVERSITY VIA LINGUISTIC AND VISUAL 5
often been associated with Malaysia; instead the diversity theme portrayed in the data extends beyond
culture. In short, the analysis revealed, three main themes of diversity which are i) cultural, ii)
destination and iii) architectural.
4.1 Diversity of Culture
Although diversity is still used rather ambiguously in debates on multiculturalism, identity, races, and
religion (Vertovec/Wessendorf 2004), in this study, the discursive theme “cultural diversity” was
communicated largely through an emphasis on ethnic, culture, and religion. The diversity themes
available on the Malaysian tourism websites are realised through the linguistic and visual elements. The
linguistic resources focused on the lexical and syntactical choices, while the visual resources focused on
the visual elements which are found on OTWM such as modality, salience, and collage.
4.1.1 Linguistic Resources
In the linguistic context, the lexical choices found on the tourism websites are verbalised through lexis
or words highlighting the positive aspects of the tourist destination from its fascination, excitement,
diversity, exoticism, beauty, and peacefulness. These particular lexical choices manipulate and create the
tourist’s gaze towards the destination (Hallett & Kaplan-Weinger 2010). Similarly, the utilisation of
such lexis is also apparent on the page about Malaysia on the official tourism website of Malaysia (see
Figure 1).
Image
Verbal Text
Figure 1 The homepage of official tourism website of Malaysia (Source: http://www.tourism.gov.my/intl_en/home retrieved on
September 22, 2012)
The lexical choices on this page signify the value of diversity in Malaysia (Calvi, 2000; Kelly, 1997;
Dann, 1996). The viewers are encouraged through the special lexis or terms used in the description to
explore and experience the diversity of Malaysia. The words bubbling, bustling and melting port of races
and religions can present the cultural diversity. These special terms attempt to create an image that can
lure and seduce the client or potential visitors (Xiong, 2012; Dann, 1996). The careful selection of the
lexis is a strategy to create a positive image of Malaysia as the country is home for people from different
ethnic groups and religions who live in harmony (see Extract 1)
6 Mohammad Arfin Muhammad Salim, Nor Aireen Ibrahim & Hanita Hassan
Extract [1] To know Malaysia is to love Malaysia. A bubbling, bustling, melting pot of
races and religions where Malays, Indians, Chinese and many other ethnic
groups live together in peace and harmony
Furthermore, the following descriptive words put across a strong sense of diversity: gastronomical
paradise, colorful, festival. These words stimulate the eagerness of the potential tourists to enjoy and
experience the diversity in Malaysia (see Extracts 2 and 3). These word choices contribute to the image
of the novelty and in this case the uniqueness of diversity offered by the destination (Dann 1996
Hoffman, 1998). The experience is thus transformed into an adventure and a discovery.
Extract [2] Multiculturalism has not only made Malaysia a gastronomical paradise, it
has also made Malaysia home to hundreds of colourful festivals.
Extract [3] It's no wonder that we love celebrating and socializing. As a people,
Malaysians are very laid back, warm and friendly.
The use of the positive adjective reveals the schemata of the viewers to experience Malaysia as a
country with different cultures and ethnic groups. The text in the official tourism website of Malaysia
employs present tense. The present tense signals a universal timeliness (Dann, 1996; Wodak, 2006). On
this occasion, the present tense or present perfect tense is used in this website to emphasise the enduring
existence of cultural diversity in Malaysia as shown in Extracts 4, 5 and 6).
Extract [4] A bubbling, bustling melting pot of races and religions where Malays, Indians,
Chinese and many other ethnic groups live together in peace and harmony.
Extract [5] Multiculturalism has not only made Malaysia a gastronomical paradise, it
has also made Malaysia home to hundreds of colorful festivals.
Extract [6] Geographically, Malaysia is as diverse as its culture
In addition, the Malaysian tourism slogan is Malaysia Truly Asia. The slogan is a simple sentence
in which the verb is left out. The complete sentence would be Malaysia is truly Asia. Asia itself is a
geographical region which houses a combination of various ethnic groups and subgroups, culture,
religion and language. So Malaysia truly Asia refers to Malaysia being as diverse as Asia itself or
encompassing the diversity of Asia.
4.1.2 Visual Resources
In line with the linguistic resources, visual elements on the subpage which features Brickfield, Penang,
Taiping and the Malaysian flag also depict the cultural diversity theme (see Figure 3). The flag
symbolises the Malaysian identity which represents integrity, nationality and cultural diversity while
the first picture illustrates the history of one race, that of the different occupation periods. The slogan
‘Malaysia truly Asia’ on the OTWM is written in white using a specific typography and background by
black in order to signify the ethnic and cultural diversity in Malaysia (Jia Lou, 2010). Furthermore,
Figure 2 illustrates the elements of Malaysian culture. The images show the traditional dance of one
PROMOTING DIVERSITY VIA LINGUISTIC AND VISUAL 7
ethnic in Malaysia and the diverse traditional costumes belonging to different ethnic groups warmly
welcoming the potential tourists to Malaysia.
Figure 2 The Malaysian cultures (Source: http://www.tourism.gov.my/en/my/web-page/experiences/top-25-
experiences/20?page=/4/2)
It would appear that these images are strategically utilised to present the diverse cultures of
Malaysia as the representations of Malaysian. Therefore, the cultural diversity of Malaysia is
manifested through the images of different people, costumes, places or things (Kress and Van Leeuwen,
1996). In fact, cultural diversity remains as one of the key elements to promote Malaysia to the potential
tourists.
4.2 Diversity of Destination
The second aspect of diversity is diversity of destination which is reflected through the use of different
lexical and syntactical items as well as visual elements.
4.2.1 Linguistic Resources
The diversity of destination is achieved through the use of different lexical and syntactical items. For
example in Extract 7, the syntactical item which portrays the diversity of the destination is carefully
chosen via the reference to both Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. This will activate the viewers’ schemata
(Patpong, 2009; Cook, 1994 ) of the metropolitan city and administrative government centre.
Extract [7] Geographically, Malaysia is as diverse as its culture. Malaysia is divided into
13 states and 3 federal territories, separated by the South China Sea with 11
states and 2 federal territories (Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya) in Peninsular
Malaysia and two states and 1 federal territory (Labuan) in East Malaysia.
8 Mohammad Arfin Muhammad Salim, Nor Aireen Ibrahim & Hanita Hassan
Furthermore, Extract 8 shows that the careful selection of words achieved to portray two important
forms of diversity i) diversity of landscape and ii) diversity of weather condition that can be found in
these destinations. The use of different nouns such as hideaways, beaches and mangroves, reflect a
destination that promises diversity of landscapes from the highland to the sandy beaches and exotic
mangroves.
In addition, the adjectives that precedes these nouns such as ‘cool (hideaways),’ warm (beaches)
and humid (mangrove)’ appear to portray the diversity of weather conditions or temperature of the
different destinations in Malaysia. The descriptions of the cool hideaways, warm beaches and humid
mangrove will enable potential tourists to form a new schema which goes beyond a mental constructive
image of the destinations but also arouses the tourists' other senses (Cook, 1994).
Extract [8] Cool hideaways are found in the highlands that roll down to warm, sandy
beaches and rich, humid mangroves.
Therefore, the use of language plays a very significant role to portray diversity of destination. The
website constructs the images via a very careful selection of words, adjectives and nouns to describe the
different destinations in Malaysia.
4.2.2 Visual Resources
Similar to the linguistic resources, the subpage of the tourism website of Malaysia reveals the truth of
images used in portraying diversity of the destinations (Jewitt, 2009; Lirola, 2006). In this subpage, the
three photos which are lined up across the centre of the page, stand out. The prominent appeal of these
three images foreground the portrayal of the diversity of destinations in Malaysia (refer to Figure 3),
from the historic city of Melaka on the left, the sandy beaches in Penang to the lush greenery of Taiping.
Figure 3 The subpage of official tourism website of Malaysia (Source: http://www.tourism.gov.my/intl_en/home retrieved on
September 22, 2012)
One of the outstanding image features found in the tourism promotional tools is collage. It is the
most typical feature of place promotional advertising. The website provider engages the multi-sensory
PROMOTING DIVERSITY VIA LINGUISTIC AND VISUAL 9
nature of visual modes to portray the destination. Often, the tourists’ first contact with the destination
is primarily through visual mode which plays an influential role in determining the tourists decidedly
emotive experience toward the destination (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006). The sensibility isotropy plays
a significant function to evoke the tourists’ emotion and desire toward the destinations. For example,
the image of the beach in Figure 4 provides potential tourists with a semiotic experience which pushes
them to really feel themselves as part of the world that is represented in the subpage.
Coming soon: My Penang
My Penang is the story of an Australian couple who have been living in Penang for a few years. For
him, it's a return to a place where, a decade earlier, he discovered the delights of Malaysia; for her, it's
her first exhilarating taste of Southeast Asia.
Figure 4 The subpage of official tourism website of Malaysia (Source: http://www.tourism.gov.my/intl_en/home retrieved on
September 22, 2012)
More generally, the tourism website is designed to play on people’s emotion and to portray the
diversity of destinations which tempt viewers with emotional experience. The visual image
demonstrates the greenery of Taiping, one of the destinations in Perak - a state up north. Images have
cognitive, emotional and behavioural effect on the audience (Brochers, 2001) and the scenery in figure
5 contributes to the tourists’ attitude toward the message. It performs the representation of reality of
Taiping as an area which is filled with greenery. In line with the visual image, the accompanying text
offers a depiction of the experience of a young Indian novelist in Taiping. He shares his personal
experience of the friendly Taiping and how he feels a part of the destination, as shown in following
example:
10 Mohammad Arfin Muhammad Salim, Nor Aireen Ibrahim & Hanita Hassan
Coming soon: My Taiping
My Taiping is the story of a young Indian novelist who grew up in Taiping. He shares what
Taiping means to him, including Taiping's "40 firsts": an impressive yet lesser known list of
Taiping's achievements in the nation's history.
Figure 5 The subpage of official tourism website of Malaysia (Source: http://www.tourism.gov.my/intl_en/home retrieved on
September 22, 2012)
4.3 Diversity of Architecture
The third aspect of diversity that is found in the data analysed in this study is the diversity of
architecture. Architecture is one of the tourism products and is conveyed as tourism commodity
intended for tourists’ consumption. The diversity of the architecture is portrayed through lexical choice
and visual resources found in the Malaysian official tourism website.
4.3.1 Linguistic Resources
The choice of the words reveals that tourism discourse has a tendency to convey messages in an
exaggerated manner to achieve some form of meaning (Dann, 1996). This is shown in Extract 9 in which
two different types of architecture is described to foreground the adverse architecture found in
Malaysia. The lexical choice is used to reflect the extreme contrast, from skyscrapers to (wooden) houses
as well as (five stars) hotel. This clearly shows the diversity of architecture, with the modern and
impressive skyscrapers standing, as if side by side, with the traditional Malay wooden houses built on
stilts. Such a description also clearly but powerfully depicts a country that is not only modern but also
is able to preserve its cultural heritage.
Extract [9] one of Malaysia's key attractions is its extreme contrasts. Towering
skyscrapers look down upon wooden houses built on stilts, and five-star hotels
sit several metres away from ancient reefs.
4.3.2 Visual Resources
It interesting to note that the visual image shown in the homepage of the official tourism website of
Malaysia is the twin tower of KLCC at dusk with a blue almost purplish and a touch of red hues (see
Figure 1). Given that the Twin Tower is the iconic representation of Malaysian architecture, the
PROMOTING DIVERSITY VIA LINGUISTIC AND VISUAL 11
sophisticated photo of the tower among the buildings is in fact the truest visual representation of the
reality of the uniqueness and diversity of Malaysia (see Figure 6). The use of full colour saturation,
bright colour tone and great pictorial detail are the main indicators ( Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006)
Figure 6 Homepage of official tourism website on Malaysia (Source : http://www.tourism.gov.my/intl_en/home retrieved on
September 22, 2012)
5.0 CONCLUSION
Online resources such as website and blogs continue to play an important role in tourism promotion.
The linguistic and visual resources available for meaning making in online resources have been the key
factors for its appeal as a promotional tool. Therefore, understanding the way linguistic and visual
resources are utilised as a resource for enhancing the portrayal of tourism destination is important for
researchers, website developers and those involved in promoting the tourism industry.
Taking on a multimodal approach, this study examined functions of language and visual elements
found in the official tourism website of Malaysia, as a resource for building the notion of Diversity of
Malaysia. The findings of this study provided insights into how language and visual elements are
strategically used to enhance the description of Malaysia as one of the popular destinations in Southeast
Asia.
The theoretical and practical implications of this analysis suggest that promoting Malaysia’s
diversity signifies the institutionalisation of visits to Malaysia, in which language and visual aspects of
diversity are emphasised and developed to be gazed upon and consumed by visitors (Urry 2010). As
noted, this study emphasises that it is important to pay careful attention to how the tourism website
of Malaysia promotes the diversity of culture, diversity of destination and diversity of architecture
through a combination of language and visual elements. This outcome yields a larger lesson by
considering the relationship between text and visual images. However, the study must be regarded as
a preliminary to a more extensive investigation of the method responsible for certain meaning effect in
the field of tourism discourse.
12 Mohammad Arfin Muhammad Salim, Nor Aireen Ibrahim & Hanita Hassan
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