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experientially, they interact with symbolic products, engage in symbolic activities and engage in
symbolic experiences' (Tresidder and Hirst 2012: 153).
Semiotics and the signifi cance of signs
Before we can develop a semiotics of tourism marketing it is important to explore the meaning
and signifi cance of semiotics as an area of practice. Semiotics is very simply the study of signs and
systems of representation. 'Signs are simply anything that stands for something (its object/
referent), to somebody (interpreter), in some respect (its context, i.e. in an advert, label, package,
servicescape or retail environment)' (Mick 1986: 198), therefore, as potential tourists or consumers
we are all amateur semioticians. Signs surround our world, signs essentially make the world
understandable and meaningful to us, they tell us when we can cross the road, which door to use
and the way to the departure lounge. We all understand the global meaning of these signs, as we
read, interpret and comprehend them; this is made possible from belonging to a shared cultural
context and system of meaning that frames and guides our reading and understanding; in
the literature this context is sometimes defi ned as a code (see Alexander 2000; McCracken
and Roth 1989; Holt and Cameron 2010) or 'cultural template' (Arsel and Thompson 2011).
Essentially these codes or templates provide a framework through which signs make sense
and are interpreted by the individual tourist. A good example of this is to think about a set of
traffi c lights (Tresidder 2011; Tresidder and Hirst 2012); we all recognize and understand their
role, this recognition is developed through historical conventions and experience whereby we
equate the colour red with danger so we stop, and green with safety so know we can cross the
road safely. Therefore, these rule based systems or organizing frameworks allows us to make sense
of everyday reality and navigate our experience in the world, thus the images utilized in tourism
marketing enable us to make sense of the tourism experience.
As codes are gathered and made sense of through our 'lived experience' and interactions with
material and social reality, they are not always universally interpreted in the same way. That is to
say, they may vary between individual consumers and particularly across different market
segments, such as age, social background, geographical demographics or lifestyle sub-cultures. In
this regard where we are unacquainted with the rules or do not understand the code, for example
a 50 year old may not understand the codes represented within 18-30 marketing literature, as
they do not belong to the age demographic, or possess the knowledge of contemporary clubbing
culture to make sense of the experience being communicated. The signs and images contained
and communicated with tourism marketing texts, direct our behaviour, expectations and
perceptions of place, culture and heritage; thus signs place a signifi cant role in promoting the
tourist experience and engaging the potential tourist in the discourse of tourism.
The order of signs
What is a sign? Signs are more than words or images, pretty much anything and everything can
be treated as a sign and can be seen to hold semiotic meaning and value. In this way, the world
and all its components can be treated as text or narrative, they are read for meaning, and as such,
they have discursive signifi cance. Clothing for example has textual properties, and is often read
in this way (McCracken and Roth 2003), this does not just work in terms of branded clothing
but also the souvenir t-shirt purchased from a destination or an event. Both are read by the
consumer, but are also read by people passing us by, through their reading they make all sorts of
assumptions about the wearer, in terms of their experiences, background and cultural capital. As
such, tourism products and activities carry and communicate meaning, as do the systems and
