Representation of the image of Kaliningrad in the names of guided city tours

Abstract

The article offers a qualitative content analysis of the names of Kaliningrad city tours and identifies the main distinctive features of the image of the city represented in them. The name of the tour is a message sent by the tour operator to the addressee — the potential consumer of tourist services. This type of communication is not exclusively commercial; it has an indirect impact on the accomplishment of a broader range of socially significant goals, first and foremost, the formation of a positive image of the city. The success of communication does not only depend on the fact of the purchasing of the tour but on the social context associated with the subsequent actions of the addressee. The interaction of the sender of the message and its addressee may entail a serious discrepancy between the image of the city represented in the names of tours and the image formed after visiting the city, or the image formed after the tour itself. The study has shown that such a discrepancy in the image of Kaliningrad is typical because of the dichotomy Koenigsberg — Kaliningrad, the contrast between the German past and Russian present, and the intention to represent Koenigsberg as a city that still exists. The article provides recommendations for overcoming the discrepancy problem.

Keywords

• city image
• place branding
• tourist discourse
• tour names
• kaliningrad