Branding the" White City": touristic films and the portrayal of modern Athens in the 1950s and 1960s (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
'White City', Christian's documentary commissioned by the Greek National Tourism Organisation, emphasises the bright sun and the bright marble so as to rebrand the Greek capital as a modern tourist utopia. The cinematic portrayal of modern Athens in touristic films offers a rich cultural database for drawing conclusions about filminduced tourism and city branding policies for the metropolis of the future. Investigating the processes involved in reinventing identities for historical cities, via the moving image, for the tourist, lies at the very heart of this paper's aims. This analysis proposes a toolkit for tracing transformations that have to do with the shifting mentality of the times: moving from culture to recreation. Architecture portrayed in touristic films provides a familiar backdrop for the international audience and propagandises national continuity. Christian's film is used advisedly as it proposes a critical reconsideration of policy-making for the branding of historic cities and mature destinations.
Film and literature as a tool for the promotion of Greek tourism
The aim of this study is to investigate the various dimensions of the phenomenon, modern, film tourism and its contribution to the local development of cities with the arrival of cinema tourists. For the needs of the study, a quantitative survey was carried out in the form of questionnaires, which were distributed in cinemas and in a central metro station in the Athens area.
2015
The present paper explores the consequences of the current economic crisis for the heritage and tourism sector in Greece and more specifically for the image and the perception of Athens by visitors. This question is explored through a preliminary study of the new ‘alternative’ tours of the city that are offered by emerging key players in the tourism industry of Athens, i.e. communities formed by locals and start-ups. We examine the established tourism image of Greece and Athens that is centred on Classical heritage and is operated by the State, an image that prevailed for decades before the economic crisis emerged. The dominant role of the State and by extension this established tourism image have been challenged by the economic crisis. We then present some of the changes in the heritage and tourism sector outlining the new tourism image of Greece and Athens and tracing the increasing role of locals and start-ups. The crisis is to be understood not simply as a condition that affects the viability of cultural organisations in Greece, but also as a phenomenon that is bending and shaping mentalities, structures and practices in the heritage and the tourism sector. The established Classicist stereotype that has operated for decades or even centuries in the context of an ‘authorised heritage discourse’ tends to be gradually replaced by a new framework of conceiving, protecting and experiencing heritage that involves many new players – an 'authorised crisis discourse'.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2015
The paper aims at analysing the connections between film-induced tourism, city-branding and place-based image through the case-study of Naples, particularly deepening the role played by urban policies not only in promoting or sustaining but also in refusing some specific city's representations. In the first part we will explore this relationship focusing the attention on the changing representations of the city in films and on the changes produced by the urban policies carried out in the phase of so-called Neapolitan Renaissance. The second part will be dedicated to deepen the link between the images of the city conveyed by the media and the touristic sector, emphasizing the role of the official representations and of the Campania Region Film Commission. The third part of the paper will focus on the conflicts involving the urban actors about the existence of a potential link between some negative representations of the periodical crisis of the city (for garbage, organized crime and difficulties in the administrative management) and tourist flows. We will argue that the duplicity of representations proposes in a new way the traditional dual image of the Neapolitan cityscape, inspiring by a different notion of "authenticity".
2016
This book is a part of the series titled New Directions in Tourism Analysis, by Ashgate Publishing. There is no doubt about the timeliness of the series, as it aims to fill a gap of theoretical development in tourism research. As scholars, we can not deny the abundance of empirical investigation done in the field of tourism compared to theory development. Tourism and the Branded City attempts to fill this gap by introducing us to city branding and cinematic cities. The stated aims of the book are (1) to provide an interdisciplinary theoretical basis for understanding and critiquing city branding as a cultural and political phenomenon, and (2) to introduce the audience to the practice (p.1). The predominant approach of the book is its interdisciplinary nature. It is easy to follow how this is achieved when the story of the book is understood. The book was developed after a project titled 'Branding Cities on the West Pacific Rim', by an interdisciplinary 'technology and culture' group (p.26). The study for the project has helped the group to appreciate the differences among disciplines of culture studies, psychology, new media studies, electronic business and digital technology, and yet shown how these can complement each other to make meaning of the world (p.26). Later, the two authors that have worked with the group have reflected this new un
PASOS Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 2010
This book is a part of the series titled New Directions in Tourism Analysis, by Ashgate Publishing. There is no doubt about the timeliness of the series, as it aims to fill a gap of theoretical development in tourism research. As scholars, we can not deny the abundance of empirical investigation done in the field of tourism compared to theory development. Tourism and the Branded City attempts to fill this gap by introducing us to city branding and cinematic cities. The stated aims of the book are (1) to provide an interdisciplinary theoretical basis for understanding and critiquing city branding as a cultural and political phenomenon, and (2) to introduce the audience to the practice (p.1). The predominant approach of the book is its interdisciplinary nature. It is easy to follow how this is achieved when the story of the book is understood. The book was developed after a project titled 'Branding Cities on the West Pacific Rim', by an interdisciplinary 'technology and culture' group (p.26). The study for the project has helped the group to appreciate the differences among disciplines of culture studies, psychology, new media studies, electronic business and digital technology, and yet shown how these can complement each other to make meaning of the world (p.26). Later, the two authors that have worked with the group have reflected this new un
Branding the Greek vision for Tourism: The Xenia Network
14TH INTERNATIONAL DOCOMOMO CONFERENCE • ADAPTIVE RE-USE, 2016
The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) was founded in 1950, to develop Tourism as a basic axis of economy, to attract foreign exchange and to promote the international " icon " of Greece as a " cultural product ". At that time, high standard facilities for tourists did not exist. Thus, GNTO started the Xenia Project to create accommodation infrastructure for the development of Tourism. The produced buildings, prominent examples of PostWar Modern Greek Architecture, and the associated infrastructure, created a network that shaped the leisurescape of the country based on Modernism. Although local communities welcomed the Programme enthusiastically, it was mass tourism, new luxury life model and bad management that led the Xenia Project to decline. This paper's ambition is to reveal the current condition of the buildings and of the leisurescapes of the Programme, and the causes of their decay, to evaluate re-uses and renovations, to explore contemporary threats and to make proposals for their protection and recognition as monuments. Selected examples will support the above effort, by exposing the necessity for preservation and re-use. This article is part of a larger scale effort to communicate the values of the Xenia Project to the public, so that a large-scale restoration can be acknowledged and appreciated. Modern accommodation buildings and leisurescapes can be upgraded to a branded cultural product.
Subject: The paper explores the branding of the historic city of Athens in the current period of crisis, through a semiotic analysis of the advertising campaign for its promotion of tourism. Structure, and methodology: The study begins with an outline of the current advertising campaign of Athens concerning domestic and foreign tourism. Then, the key principles and tools of semiotics are presented, with an emphasis on the theory of Roland Barthes, who focuses on the analysis of the visual message (image). This is followed by a semiotic analysis of two advertising spots: ‘Greece, a part of our soul – The Acropolis Museum’ aimed at domestic tourism, and ‘You in Athens’ aimed at foreign tourism. Contribution: The paper examines: a) the ways by which Athens is branded in the domestic and the foreign tourism market at a time of crisis; b) the ways by which Athens, going through crisis, attempts to differentiate itself from other cities – especially those of the foreign tourism market – which are in a much better economic situation; and c) the role of culture in the branding of Athens in the domestic and the foreign tourism market, in relation to the current crisis. The study also touches upon the contribution of tools from the field of semiotics to place marketing/branding. Keywords: tourism – place marketing/branding – ‘experience’ model – semiotics – crisis – Athens
Although neo-liberalism is not an urbanization policy, it has changed urban practices since 1970s. Neoliberal politics has started to use history, culture, identity, social status, even happiness as a commodity that can be bought and sold to ensure the sustainability of capital. Urban history and cultural heritage have been highlighted in urban spaces, themed projects, shopping malls, residents, and tourism facilities etc. Hereby, cultural heritages and culture have been faced with depreciation and conservation. Cities have transformed into a fragmented structure with replicas and city images are destroyed. In globalization process place that is a significant concept in terms of architecture and urban planning, has started to lose its distinctive character and lost its meaning. Neoliberalism has constituted "non-places" that defines as places which can be seen everywhere without socio-cultural connection. The difference of an area and space is to be identifiable not only spatial but also historical and relational. The case study area, Ecdad Park, is inspired by historical and architectural features of Ottoman and Selçuklu Empire and commodify urban history as a marketing tool. In scope of the research, the effects of commodification of urban history on users' satisfaction is evaluated with "user satisfaction survey". In the light of the results obtained from the survey, density of green areas, cleanness, proximity, security is more effective on user satisfaction rather than historical data and replicas of cultural heritage.