Linguistic and pragmatic potential of hotel website in the tourist branding of destination

Abstract

The article presents linguistic and pragmatic analysis of German hotels' websites content, considered by the authors as a significant component of the tourist Internet resource. Being a popular format of communication in the field of tourism Internet resource is aimed at increasing the attractiveness of tourist sites and destinations. It serves as an effective tool for mutual understanding and activation of business and cultural-mediated communication. The hotel website belongs to the basic genres of tourist Internet discourse. Due to the analysis we can state that the hotel website content being a hypertext (a large number of tabs, a significant number of related pages) is hybrid (synthesis of advertising, historical, art, legal and other discourses); it implements both explicit and hidden intentions of the addressant and acts as an agonal communication instrument branding the region. These functions are implemented through various language means of different levels. At the lexical level they are adjectives with mejorative (positive) meaning, expressive units, high-sounding expressions, evaluative epithets and other elements of high style, providing an attractive image of the destination. Anglicisms occupy a significant place in the language content of hotel websites, explicating their aiming at global communication. At the syntactical level, in the texts of hotel websites there are imperative constructions of polite form and interrogative sentences, creating the impression of a direct dialogue with the addressee. Thus, implementation of territorial branding involves linguistic and pragmatic potential of verbal content of hotel websites, that creates a positive and attractive image of the destination.