Image on Internet as a Strategy of Rejuvenation: Virtual Expectations

Resum

Fuerteventura (Canary Isles, Spain) has historically  been  characterized  as  a  tour-ist  destination  with  a  consolidated  ‘sun,  sand and sea’ image. Recent studies reveal the existence of important socio-environ-mental saturation symptoms that warn of the need for a change of course. The tour-ism sector is currently trying to promote the  idealization  of  new  visitors  through  renovation  strategies  of  its  projected  im-age. These images are revealed as an important cultural mediation mechanism that influences the conformation of power  structures.  This  article  examines  the  processes  of  resignification  that  involves  the  creation  of  these  images.  Therefore, quantitative and qualitative techniques are combined in the analysis of the con-tents, strategic codes and ideological nar-ratives  present  in  the  discourses  of  the  most  visited  websites  of  Administration,  enterprises  and  tourists  from  its  main  tourism  source  markets.  The  projection  of  four  underlying  cultural  images  is  re-vealed: i)  paradise  place;  ii)  remote  des-tination; iii)  primitivism;  iv)  traditionalism,  all  of  which  would  be  framed  in  turn in the projection of an overall image of Fuerteventura as an ideal coastal desti-nation. These images contain ideological discourses  that  seek  to  transform  certain  resources   into   cultural   merchandising,   covering  in  them  dynamics  of  cultural  identification  which  can  generate  effects  on self images of local populations.