Urban Place Writing Methodologies

Travel Writing for Tourism and City Branding: Urban Place Writing Methodologies 

Travel Writers Book Launch Totnes

Totnes author, Dr Charlie Mansfield launched his new book for travel writers at Totnes Public Library, Devon UK at 11am on Friday 3rd March 2023. 

The previous Zoom presentation for the European launch, on 10th January 2023, introduced the 3-step process for travel writers and researchers to engage with DMOs, city councils and tourism stakeholders. It gave an overview of dialogue journaling from Chapter 5 of our 2023 book, Travel Writing for Tourism and City Branding, Abingdon: Routledge. Please click on the icon below to access the slides in Google Slides (works better if you have a Google Account). 

Recording of Book Talk from Zoom

Please fast-forward 4 minutes to avoid Zoom Admin

Part 2 including question time

If you would like to implement the journaling process for your own writing or for your students a full template in Google Docs, and a template in Microsoft OneNote is available on TOUREME. Please click on the TOUREME icon below:

Authors: Dr Charlie Mansfield and Dr Jasna Potočnik Topler

Travel Writing for Tourism and City Branding provides tourism students with a practice-based approach to producing researched literary travel writing on an urban destination, using the writing process as a research tool in itself. The book is scientifically supported with full academic references for researchers.

DMO and City Council 

City councils and destination managers are seeking new ways to commission and sponsor professional authors as part of place-branding projects for tourism development. Given the increasing value of such content within the tourism industry, this book provides a cohesive overview of literary travel writing, presenting it as an inquiry process that can be applied by writer-researchers to spaces that have value to them. Travel writing is presented as a methodological process that researchers can apply to their own projects, both in academic settings and in commercial city branding. Examples of literary travel writing are carefully examined throughout the book. Enriched with a wealth of case studies, chapters are presented in such a way that readers can take the work as a model for their own projects.

Content Authoring 

This informative and practical volume will be of great interest to students of tourism marketing, destination marketing, place branding, travel writing, as well as current creators of commercial tourism marketing and information content. Lecturers, too, will find it an excellent course book in tourism discourse practices, with details on assessing literary work. 

ISBN  Hardback: 9781032014722  Paperback: 9781032014692  eBook: 9781003178781 DOI: 10.4324/9781003178781

To Cite: Mansfield, C. and Potočnik Topler, J. (2023). Travel Writing for Tourism and City Branding: Urban Place Writing Methodologies. Abingdon: Routledge. 

On Amazon UK www.amazon.co.uk           Amazon Italy https://amzn.eu/d/4BIhgj0

On Amazon US https://a.co/d/hTyo8GP      Amazon France https://amzn.eu/d/8Exwoo4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Who is Commissioning, Producing and Reading Travel and Place Writing?

Chapter 1: Introducing Literary Travel Writing and Place Making;

Chapter 2: Affect, Experience and the Literary Text

Chapter 3: Travel Writing in Place Branding

Chapter 4: Value, Axiology and Written Representation of Place

Chapter 5: Methodologies and Practice

Chapter 6: Case Studies in Cooperative Travel Writing

Chapter 7: Evaluating Writing for Quality and Value in Mentoring

Chapter 8: Conclusions, Research Futures and Management Implications

Full List of References 

Author Biographies

Dr Charlie Mansfield is an academic, lecturing at university since 1995. Charlie taught travel writing at the University of Plymouth in Tourism Management and French, where he was also co-director of the heritage research centre. He completed a major, funded research project for the CNRS with the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in digital heritage management and was a research academic with the University of Edinburgh from January 2005 until July 2009 where he successfully completed an AHRC-funded research project to digitise mediaeval literary texts. He is an independent researcher and travel writer, regularly running summer schools for literary travel writers and DMOs.

Dr Jasna Potočnik Topler has been teaching at the University of Maribor, Slovenia since 2014. Jasna completed her studies in English language and literatures and in Journalism, and was awarded her PhD at the University of Ljubljana. Currently, she holds the position of Associate Professor. Her field of research includes cultural tourism with its subtypes, languages, tourism and media discourse, and communication. She is the author of monographs, scientific articles, conference lectures, and an editorial board member of many journals. She has been engaged in several international projects and in projects with students; the most recent under the EU Erasmus+ Programme KA220-HED is IN-COMM GUIDE that enhances active and inclusive teaching of literacy and communication skills for better employment and sustainable economic growth. As a guest lecturer, she has had cooperation with many European universities.

Book Reviews

This book can be used by practitioners, students (undergraduate, postgraduate, and research), and lecturers alike. Despite the wide range of publications on destination marketing (and more generally speaking, on destination management), this book authored by Charlie Mansfield and Jasna Potočnik Topler offers a perspective which is under-investigated by academics and under-exploited by the industry, namely, travel writing. Additionally, the content of the book makes it a ‘one-stop-shop’ because it can be used for research methods modules (see chapters 4 & 5), for marketing modules (see chapters 1 & 3), academic skills (chapter 6), and even for creative writing modules on programmes other than tourism such as English literature (chapter 5). These chapters provide clear guidelines to researchers, students and practitioners interested in either producing travel writing or deciphering existing texts. One of the main strengths of this book lies in the fact that it goes beyond the visible aspect of destination branding, as it also explores the affect dimension of branding which is sometimes conveyed, enhanced, and communicated by travel writing."  

Dr Hugues Séraphin, Senior Lecturer in Events & Tourism, Unit of Assessment 17 Research Lead, PGR Students Lead, University of Winchester, UK.

This book offers an innovative resource to new and experienced travel writers, by bridging the gap between the field of creative writing and applied academic subjects, such as marketing and branding. As such, the book offers great value by showing the practical use and modus operandi of travel writing.The book can be used by managers in DMOs through its demonstration of the effectiveness of travel writing as a marketing tool. The real added value for practitioners and managers alike is that it renders abstract concepts very tangible and applicable to real-world situations."  

Philipp Wassler (PhD), Assistant Professor, Department of Management at the University of Bergamo, Italy.