ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that tourism has been central not only to national development, traditionally defined, but also to state efforts at reformulating national identity through the process of nation branding. It explores the case of Irish tourism demonstrates that national development and place branding, rather than being separate issues, have become increasingly interwoven. The chapter discusses the nation branding through tourism in Ireland can be read as an official exercise in writing the nation, and is read not only by prospective foreign tourists, but also by a domestic audience. The Celtic Tiger has transformed Ireland economically, socially and politically, creating new questions as to what it means to be Irish. The chapter presents the content of the Irish brand continues to emphasize the Ireland of old rather than that of a modern, cosmopolitan society. Dominant tourism marketing images from the 1950s through 1980s also emphasized Ireland as outside of the modern world.
