Il turismo come strumento di diplomazia pubblica

Abstract

The paper examines tourism as a tool of public diplomacy, an open diplomacy of governments on the world stage throught to the use of mass media. In the era of global communication, the power of a state is also defi ned by their reputation and their image in the international public opinion. Today, the governments use the tools of soft power rather than hard power to achieve their objectives. All nations use a marketing operation to «sell» their brand to attract economic investment, to form political alliances, to attract tourists. The tourist image of a country is essential and must be carefully constructed. In this paper there are several examples of branding operations (from Israel to the former communist countries of Central Europe) and particular attention is to defining and distinguishing between the terms used in this new field of study, halfway between sociology, marketing, politics and tourism.