Author: Nelson P. Pastolero, Mary Ann E. Tarusan

Abstract: This study identified the extent of language use in the tourism pages of the official websites of the province. The text and images of six tourism pages were subjected to qualitative content analysis, and data were coded to identify the linguistic features and discursive techniques employed by the tourism officers in promoting and motivating potential clients to visit tourism destinations in the province. The common lexical features were positive adjectives and use of proper nouns for descriptions while the syntactic features were declaratives in active voice, imperatives in the form of commands and requests, and interrogatives in the form of wh-questions. In addition, modality includes brightness, color contrast, and perspective; while the salience composes of perspective, relative size, and sharpness of objects in focus. The use of collage features three to six photos with descriptive texts and participants such as people captured in photos. On the discursive techniques, the tourism administrators employed the techniques to inform such practical necessities for decision-making like cognitive necessities, to persuade through manipulation, and to direct in the form of directives.

Keywords: applied linguistics, content analysis, tourism sections, official websites, Philippines

Article Info: Received: 13 Feb 2023; Received in revised form: 10 Mar 2023; Accepted: 19 Mar 2023; Available online: 26 Mar 2023

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.82.8