Discursive Construction of a Destination. Urban Transition Through Tourism in Ticino Between 1980s and 2010s

Mass tourism is a fundamental phenomenon of the second half of the 20th century, and contributes to urbanisation processes. In order to uncover the evolution of the institutional perspective on urban issues, we mobilise two main conceptual tools: the regulation of capitalism, and the production of space through tourism. Our paper positions itself as an example of “thinking through tourism”, where tourism is used as a means of analysing social change rather than as an object in itself. We ask how institutional discursive destination construction has changed in the Swiss canton of Ticino between the1980s and the 2010s. Our results show a progressive change towards a merely economic and hotel-centred understanding of tourism governance over this period. It exemplifies an increasingly economic and sectoral vision, which abandons a more organic understanding of the touristic phenomenon and neglects its social role. It is an exemplary case of institutional neoliberalisation.