Exploring political parties’ manifesto discourse on tourism: Analysis of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish elections 1998–2011

This study explores the level of attention (‘issue-salience’) and use of language (‘policy framing’) related to tourism in political parties’ manifestos in Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish elections in the UK. The findings reveal significant increases in the salience of tourism as an election issue—as well as parties’ contrasting use of language when placing policy proposals before voters. Notably, as part of their state-building agenda, civic nationalist parties put particular emphasis on tourism as an expression of national identity and means of boosting international standing. This study’s wider contribution to tourism scholarship lies in showing how public policy is grounded in the representative process and revealing the party politicization and contingent nature of tourism policy development.