Abstract

Travel writing, an important influence on tourism, is often criticized as hegemonic/colonial by postcolonial studies. This study notes that postcolonial studies invariably solely search for such intentions in representations of societies. A critique of such approach is made by analysing travel writing texts where a postcolonial approach would find hegemonic/colonial intentions, while such intentions are likely absent. This is done by showing that travel writing representations of Portugal (an important tourist destination for tourism which tourism is very significant) are similar to social science representations of the country. These are to a great extent produced by Southern European and Portuguese scientists, making underlying hegemonic/colonial intentions unlikely. It is concluded that the attribution of such intentions to travel writing and other discourses by postcolonial studies should be rethought. One should therefore be careful in using postcolonial studies findings. An alternative mechanism underlying the production of unfavourable representations is proposed that may generate unfavourable representations even when producers of representations do not hold prejudiced views, with crucial implications on tourism and cultural identity.