What's in the name 'Tasmania'? A discourse analysis of Tasmania as a paradise for tourists of Chinese origin

A marketing campaign setting too high an expectation for tourists may do a disservice to the tourist destination. This paper is a case study of the Tourism Tasmania campaign The Last Paradise launched in February 2008 which targeted Hong Kong tourists. The paper investigates the paradisal discourse used in the Tasmanian tourism promotion campaign and the gaps between marketing representation and consumer experiences of Tasmania. The author also compares the Western and Eastern (with a focus on the perception of paradise by people of Chinese origin) discourses of paradise. The difference in perception of paradise in Western and Eastern cultures is believed to have caused disappointments among tourists of Chinese origin who visited Tasmania. This cultural difference is supported by the study of the discourse used in 11 travelogues written by Chinese tourists during or soon after their visits to Tasmania. In addition to the disillusionment of paradise, these travelogues also reveal certain fundamental problems in making Tasmania a preferred tourist destination, such as infrastructure, service culture and attitudes of local Tasmanians towards tourists.