The Language of Persuasion on Instagram: A Systemic Functional Approach to Multimodal Tourism Discourse

This book offers a systematic, interdisciplinary investigation into the language of persuasion in contemporary tourism discourse, with a focus on English-language travel boards’ use of Instagram and official websites.

Drawing on Corpus Linguistics and Systemic Functional Linguistics, it examines how linguistic and visual resources are strategically deployed to construct idealized representations of destinations and evoke positive emotional responses. Through a multimodal analysis, the volume explores recurring linguistic patterns, the role of platform-specific dissemination, and how discourse constructs power dynamics between destinations and prospective tourists. By combining empirical methods with critical discourse and sociological perspectives, the book sheds light on how emotionally charged, consumer-oriented narratives may reinforce broader socioeconomic inequalities and contribute to unsustainable travel practices. In doing so, it contributes to ongoing debates on digital persuasion and literacy, media framing, and the ideological function of tourism communication, and recommends approaches to integrate data-driven, highly persuasive strategies and eco-sensitive narratives.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students in discourse analysis, digital communication, tourism studies, marketing, and linguistics, as well as professionals interested in the mechanisms behind strategic, promotional narratives and their potential impact on social and environmental sustainability.

Elena Mattei is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Bergamo and an adjunct professor of English language at Ca’ Foscari, University of Venice. She holds a PhD in English multimodal linguistics for tourism and worked on the National Research Project DIETALY (Destination Italy in English Translation and Language over the Years) in collaboration with the Italian National Tourist Board. With a keen interest in environmental protection and responsible travel, she is currently working on data-driven, computational methods and semiotic theories to foster innovative solutions for regenerative tourism promotion on social media, aiming to create practical guidelines and visual-linguistic taxonomies that help reshape tourism narratives toward greater social and ecological integrity.