LANGUAGE TOURISM: CONCEPTUALIZATION and STRATEGIC VALUE in CONSOLIDATED DESTINATIONS

Abstract

In the current competitive tourism context, mature destinations face the challenge of developing new strategies that enable them to maintain their market share and increase the benefits of tourism. In addition to other diversification strategies, some consolidated destinations propose the development of tourism focused on language learning. Travelling with the aim of learning languages has become an increasingly frequent activity and it seems clear that its value as an economic resource should be recognised. However, beyond the extensive international research focused on the analysis of the relationship between language and economy, there are few studies on the link between language learning, tourism related to this activity and its economic and social impact on the destination.