Marketing a 'Sense of Place': Representations of Africa in Ecotour Web sites

Patterns and forms of international tourism have changed significantly over the past three decades. Specifically, ecotourism has emerged as an ostensibly environmentally and culturally sensitive option to more traditional forms of tourist activities. Taking advantage of the proliferation of modern communications technologies, ecotour agencies have utilized the World Wide Web to facilitate the marketing and promotion of their tours. This paper examines the implications of Webbased technology and tourism. Through a qualitative analysis of 30 ecotour Websites, we identify and examine dominant discourses which perpetuate the representation of Africa as a dark, empty, wild continent, still open for Western appropriation. We contend that the marketing of Africa-based ecotours, and the usage of these discourses, legitimizes and naturalizes neocolonial relations.