In the beginning was the name: naming and framing sustainable cultural tourism destinations in peripheral areas

Early-stage tourism development in peripheral areas often takes place under ‘below-zero’ conditions, where tourism is weakly established, place identities fragmented, and conventional branding strategies premature. In such contexts, the name of a place and its associated communicative framings become a first vital connector between potential visitors, local stakeholders, and the area itself. This article examines how naming and framing processes operate under these conditions and how they can be diagnosed and engaged to support sustainable cultural tourism development. It combines findings from a mixed-methods case study of Campina de Faro in southern Portugal, integrating a visitor survey, interviews with local residents and tourism professionals, and field observations. A four-perspective framework is applied, distinguishing between name awareness, name-intrinsic communicative potential, name-extrinsic cues in surrounding semiotic landscapes, and contested stakeholder agendas. The findings show that while the name Campina de Faro has intrinsic potential as a place-brand carrier, it remains largely unknown and weakly embedded in everyday communicative environments. Local identities are fragmented, tourism is not a dominant concern for many actors, and communicative cues are uneven and site-specific rather than area-wide. The article argues that in these conditions whole-area branding may be premature and a sequenced piecemeal approach more viable. A diagnostic checklist is presented to support naming and framing decisions, illustrated through applications to Campina de Faro as a whole and a specific heritage site. The broader relevance of the approach is briefly discussed relative to other peripheral tourism contexts within the SECreTour project.