Analysing the Logos of Natural Tourism Destinations Through Visual Semiotics: The Case of ECST-Certified Natural Parks

This study expands previous semiotic research on natural tourism destinations by examining the visual identity of Italian natural parks that hold the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST) certification. Utilizing the visual semiotic methodology previously applied for the study of Spanish ECST parks, this research extends the analysis to Italian ECST-certified natural parks, as together these two nations account for 78% of all ECST-certified parks. The study aims to decode the visual elements that compose the parks’ logos, by determining the basic visual codes of said logos, the visual attributes that correspond to each code, and lastly the possible meanings that those visual attributes could convey to the public. All the 48 Italian ECTS certified parks were considered in the research. The results confirm the efficiency of semiotic methodology in codifying the visual elements of logos and provide a detailed semiotic database that can be used by graphic designers and advertising agencies to design the visual identities of natural parks and other natural tourism destinations focused on promoting sustainable practices.