Architecture and the destination image: Something familiar, something new, something virtual, something true

Abstract

Linked to the image of a destination, signs and symbols are important instruments in tourism with architecture playing a dominant role in this context. Recognition value might be one reason, the tourist’s search for the photogenic, another. “Environments which are not visually distinct in some way or other are very unlikely to be consumed." (Urry 1995: 189) Konrad thus argues, “for the masses, architecture is a major element of the semiotics of tourism leading to the connotation of a place… and because of expanding tourism the construction of architectural icons has become an increasingly popular phenomenon” (2010: 228).