“Seguridad” y “hospitalidad” frente a la “campaña antiargentina”: la construcción de la imagen turística de Buenos Aires para el Mundial 78

The paper intends to analyze the role of tourism in the discourses and practices of the last Argentine military dictatorship to counteract the bad image projected abroad. Around this, the 78 World Cup has been widely studied as an "alibi" against international complaints for the violation of human rights. However, until now the role of the tourist image in the construction of this friendly face that was wanted to be shown has not been considered. We start from the hypothesis that the novelty in the relationship between tourism and politics in these years did not lie so much in a change in the touristic image itself, but in the way in which it was articulated with a broader discourse favorable to the regime. Based on the analysis of official documents, tourist guides, and press material, we will show in what terms the resulting tourist image responded to the interests and needs of the de facto government.