Where is the humour in tourism promotion? An investigation of the “Spain Marks” campaign

Abstract

This paper discusses humour and tourism, with a focus on “Spain Marks”, an international campaign used to promote Spain as a tourism destination. The importance of this relationship suggests that the use of humour in marketing works as an engagement and loyalty strategy, as well to portray the uniqueness of a destination. The “Spain Marks” campaign was innovative in its use of humour because it offered a fresh and a contemporary image of Spain as a tourism destination. This campaign has been specially selected for its exceptional ironic character. The study aims to understand the humour appreciation of this specific advertisement using an online survey that was completed by 40 participants. The results indicate that the use of humour is a difficult task because what is perceived as fun, attractive and ironic in any tourism campaign is highly subjective.