Comunicare il viaggio: dalla guida al blog, dalla propaganda al branding

In the words of Giacomarra (2005), travel and tourism are communication well before being practice. Over the past two centuries, travellers have changed enormously, as have the tools used to organise travel, manage it, choose methods and destinations. From travel for the privileged few to mass tourism, from travelogues to guides for well-prepared travellers up to today’s blogs, not failing to mention handy paperbacks for young people who travel the world armed with a rucksack and a smartphone, in search of better living and economic conditions on apps and social networks. Nevertheless, the clearest sign of how travel has changed is the way we have moved from ‘scenario’ communication tools to strategically structured systems: from propaganda posters to advertising, from coordinated images to branding, from road signage to digital information systems. This paper aims to offer an overview of the relationship between communication, narrative forms and travel.