The document analyzes the language used in radio advertisements for religious tourism to Saudi Arabia by various travel agencies and airlines in Kano, Nigeria. It finds that the advertisements make extensive use of linguistic techniques like adjectives, verbs, pronouns, and place names to positively portray and promote the tourism offerings. Adjectives like "luxurious", "decent", and "quality" are used to describe accommodations and meals. Future-tense verbs and phrases like "will provide" create a sense of promise. Personal pronouns like "you" and "your" help form a connection with potential customers. Repeating place names associated with religious sites emphasizes proximity to important locations. Overall, the language in the

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THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE ON RELIGIOUS TOURISM
ADVERTISEMENT
By
Muhammed Sagir Abdullahi
National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, Bagauda, Kano State.
Tel: +2348035384289 E-mail: sagirabdullahi2012@gmail.com
Abstract
Religious tourism is one of the tourism forms where such tourists refer as “pilgrim tourists”
visiting religious sacred sites of their respective faiths. Advertising and tourism are two different
words but closely related which are frequently used nowadays to serve a particular purpose.
This paper explores the use of language in tourism advertisement with focus on linguistic terms
(i.e parts and figures of speech) and syntactic feature of radio advertising corpus and slogans by
travelling agencies and airlines. The study data was collected from Freedom radio FM
advertising corpus and slogans for three travelling agencies and two airline companies in Kano.
They are: Visa travels and tours limited, Hijaba travels and tours Nigeria limited, Murna
travelling agency, Ethopian airline and Azman air services. Two theories: Elaboration
Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM) and the Media Influence Diffusion of Innovation (DIMI)
were employed in the data analysis. The study reveals that, the language used in the radio
adverts appeal to the needs and emotions of the prospective religious tourists. It also influences,
persuades and informs their decision in purchasing of the best tour-package for economic and
money value.
Keywords: Tourism, religion, language and advertising corpus and slogans

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
Language is one of the most important and characteristic forms of human behavior.
It is defined as a rule-governed system of symbols that allows the users to generate
meaning and in the process, to define reality (Dada, 2004). Language is the major
means by which human being communicates. Linguists have long been interested
in the structure of words (morphology) and sentences (syntax) and even their
function, considering that people construct structures out of words that are not only
aimed to make sense but also to serve more specific purposes. People speak in
order to exchange information, to ask for help, to persuade, to promise and to
apologize according to their purpose in a certain social context (Austin 1962,
Searle 2000). In the same vein, Tourism is as old as humanity itself and involves
people travelling to and from different village, cities, towns and provinces of the
country for different purposes. Tourism is the term given to the activity that occurs
when tourists travel. This encompasses everything from the planning of the trip,
the travel to the place (destination), the stay itself (interactions between hosts and
guests and purchases made), the return, and the reminiscence about the trip
afterwards (Mill & Morrison, 1992:9). People all over the world toured for
different reasons including trade, religious purposes and visiting friends and
relatives. Every year during the 12th Muslim lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah, close
to three million pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia to visit Mecca, birthplace of the

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prophet Muhammad. Mecca is perhaps the best-known world religious tourism
destination, but there are many others, i.e. Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican
City, Varanasi in India, Lumbini in Nepal, or Jerusalem.
Advertising has probably become one of the most powerful communication tools
used by marketers to communicate their message to the target audience.
Advertising performs an important role in today’s informational society, which is
characterized by a heavy competition. Commercial and non-for-profit
organizations used both personalized advertising messages and various
communication channels to reach target audiences. Advertising shapes the
society’s attitude to a number of various issues, influences people’s thinking and
behavior (Išoraitė 2013: 169). Successful tourism advertisement heavily depends
on how well it was advertised on print or electronic media through effective use of
language in order to hold peoples interest. And for the advertising slogan, it’s an
important part of advertising language also employed by various organizations for
more than a century. Slogan is a short advertising statement, in any syntactic form
(i.e. a phrase or a short sentence), that communicates the identity, image and merit
of an organization, company or product to its target audience. Even if a slogan is
short, it is a powerful marketing tool that helps persuade future actions of potential
customers. It is the most effective means of drawing the attention of prospective

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customers and to enable them distinguish between different products and services
in the saturated market.
Intending pilgrim tourists faces unending problems regarding preparation and
arrangement of their tour to religious destination. These ranges from visa
acquisition, ticketing, accommodation and feeding while in the holy land which
was normally arranged by tour operators. Tour vendors (travelling agencies and
tour operators) are in an enormous competition to attract customers through either
print or electronic media advertisements. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to
analyze the linguistic terms (parts and figures of speech) and syntactic features of
radio advertising corpus and slogans used by travelling agencies and airlines in
Kano.
2. METHODOLOGY
The data used for this study was collected from Freedom radio FM advertising
corpus and slogans on religious tourism for three travelling agencies and two
airline companies. They are: Visa travels and tours limited, Hijaba travels and
tours Nigeria limited, Murna travelling agency, Ethopian airline and Azman air
services. The study was induced by the market competitiveness especially during
peak periods of Umrah (lesser hajj) in the month of Ramadan and pilgrimage

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(hajj). The selection of the tour operators was based on their respective
experiences in travel trade industry and the media frequencies.
3. DATA
The radio advertising corpus and slogans were presented in Hausa language with
English gloss in the form of extracts from the original collected data, numbered
and italicized. The gloss in English is written below each extracts for easy
reference in the analysis. Find below the extracts:
Visa Travel and tours limited
1. Ya tanadi jirgin Saudiyya musamman dan jigilar aikin Hajjin Bana akan
farashi mai sauki.
(Reserved Saudi Airline for Hajj operation at a subsidize cost).
2. Zamu bawa Maniyyata masauki a 4-star hotel kusa da Harami a Makka da
Madina.
(We will provide decent accommodation for our passengers at 4-star hotel
adjacent to Haram in Makka and Madina).
3. Za mu bada abincin “safe” da na “Dare” na alfarma a Makka da Madina.
(We will provide quality lunch and dinner for our passengers in Makka and
Madina).
4. Za mu kai Mahajjatanmu dukkan wuraren ibada a motoci na alfarma,
hankali kwance, cikin mutumci da girmamawa.
(Luxurious buses for shuttling our passengers to holy sites in a dignified
way).
Hijaba travels and tours Nigeria limited
5. Kamfanin da zai kaiku Kasa-mai-tsarki a cikin kwanciyar hankali tare da
annashuwa.
(Air lifting passengers in a more favourable and friendly condition).
6. Sun tanadar muku lafiyayyun masaukai a Makka da Madina.

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(Reserve for you a decent accommodation in Makka and Madina).
7. Sannan ga “Shema a Minna ga ingantattun abinci, na gani na fada.
(Air-conditioned tent with buffet at Minna).
8. Sun tanadar muku babban “jirgi” na-kasaita mai suna Madeview airline.
(Made-view 747 airbus reserved for our passengers’ pride)
9. Jirgin zai tashi daga Kano zuwa Madina babu jira.
(Fly from Kano to Madina without delay)
10. Ku rangada musu rangadedan kira a lambarsu.
(Give them soundest call for your booking)
Murna travelling agency limited
11. Kamfanin mu na “Murna” zai sha-re hawayen maniyyata.
(Murna travels: the pilgrims’ hope).
12. Lallai yaci sunansa Murna, Murna da farin cikin mahajjata
(Murna deserves its name for passengers’ happiness).
13. Domin samarwa da mahajjata visa da kyakkyawan masauki.
(For timely visa and good accommodation).
14. Hotel-hotel na alfarma kusa da Haramin Makka da Madina.
(Luxury hotels adjacent to the Holy mosques in Makka and Madina).
15. Isassun Shemomi da tsafta a garin Mina da Arfa.
(Clean and spacious tent at Mina and Arfa sites)
Ethopian Airline
16. Ingatattun da lafiyayyun jiragen da babu irin su a nahiyar afrika.
(Newly ordered jets, first in Africa)
17. Domin sauri cikin kwanciyar hankali, walwala da biyan bukata.
(For accessibility, affordability and fulfillment)
18. Ka sami rangwamen kashi ashin na kudin da ka biya.
(Twenty percent discount on ticket)
Azman air services
19. Ya fadada kasuwancin sa ga abokan huldarsa wato “ku” masu travelling
agency kai tsaye.

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(Extend its commercial boundaries for customers’ reach).
20. Don sayen tikiti ko mu’amalar jiragen sama.
(For ticketing and other travelling arrangements).
21. Don gabatowar aikin Hajji ga matafiya ta “jirgin yawo”.
(For Hajj operation and the business travelers).
Slogans of travelling agencies and airlines
22. Na gari na kowa.
(The good one for all).
23. Kamfanin da babu irinsa.
(The best among its peers).
24. Murna sha-re hawayen mahajjata.
(Murna: the pilgrims’ hope).
25. Sabon salo a afrika .
(The new spirit of Africa).
26. Jirgin Azman a hau lafiya a sauka lafiya.
(Azman air for safe journey).
4. ANALYSIS
The procedure for the analysis was based on two theories: The Elaboration
Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM) and the Media Influence Diffusion of
Innovation which are relevant to the study of this nature. ELM describes the
cognitive processing that occurs when a person is presented with a persuasive
message, whether the message is presented one-on-one or through a medium; such
as radio advert and jingles to be processed either cognitively or peripherally. While
MIDI theory suggest that the media play a significant role in advertising and
promoting new ideas, forms of behavior and material goods. Based on these

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theories, the analysis of this paper focused on linguistic terms (parts of speech and
figures of speech) and syntactic feature of slogans from the advertising corpus and
slogans in the extracted data.
4.1 Linguistic Terms
Majority of persuasion techniques strives to create a positive impression through
evaluation and emotional appeal. Emotionality and evaluation are best expressed
through an extensive use of adjectives or adverbs which attribute certain qualities
and properties to the object advertised (Gramley and Pätzold 2002, p. 103). The
collected data shows that radio advertising uses parts and figures of speech to
effect and appeal to the feelings of audience and makes the message more
persuasive and influence the change of behavior as in the following linguistic
terms:
4.1.1 Adjectives
Adjectives are probably the most frequent part of speech used in
tourism advertisements. Their function as to this regard was to express,
persuade, convince and to give a clear image of the heavenly like
destination. They focus on the hyperbolic dimension as well as on the
comparative and superlative forms of the advertise products. The
followings are the loaded adjectives (words) used in the data from
extracts 1, 4,5,6,8 and 10 as follows:

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reserved, luxurious, dignified, favorable, friendly, decent, timely,
soundest, pride and quality.
Therefore, the persuasive and manipulative force of the adjectives is to
depict what is expected in the destination facilities as high as it meant to
construct and envisage another world, authentic, magical and special.
Thus adjectives are of utmost importance in tourism adverts and
slogans. This corresponds with what Townson (1995:85) regard as
being “the most notable feature of the language in advertising”. It is an
inescapable fact that the language of advertising relies heavily on the
use of adjectives for exaggerations.
4.1.2 Auxiliary verbs
Two auxiliary verbs often used in advertising are the future auxiliary
‘will’, because it evokes the impression of ‘promise’ and the modal
auxiliary ‘can’. If an animate subject precedes the verb ‘can’, the
consumer is told that the product gives him or her ‘ability’ to do this or
that. If an inanimate subject precedes ‘can’, the consumer is told what
‘possibilities’ the product offers (Leech 1972: 125). Find the example
of the auxiliary verb “will” from extracts 2 and 3 as follows:
“We will provide decent accommodation”
“We will provide quality lunch and dinner”

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The central problems with religious tourists/pilgrims in the destination
(holy land) are basically accommodation, transportation for local
running to ritual sites and healthy food. The use of auxiliary verb “will”
is evoking promise with certainty of providing decent accommodation
and quality food as part of the tour-package.
4.1.3 Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are words that stand for expressing of individual
persons. They are used in advertising because they represent some sort
of approximation of the product to the customers. However, it does not
have to be only product. It might stands for the whole company, idea or
group of people. Use of personal pronouns probably roots in human
needs to be looked after. Of course, it depends also on each individual
person but when taken into account in general. By the constant use of
the second person YOU, the advertisers establishes a dialogue with the
audiences, trying directly to persuade them that what is being advertised
is actually worth trying. These are markers of familiarity between the
product and the possible consumer, as the former is aimed at meeting
the latter’s needs and desires. In this case, the advertiser claims to know
the pilgrim tourists’ needs in the holy land and promises to fulfill them
as in the following extract:

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“Reserve for you a decent accommodation in Mecca and Madina”
The extract 6 quoted shows that the advertiser tried to persuade the
intending pilgrim by offering a kind of promises for a better and decent
accommodation. The pronoun “You” directly addressing the pilgrim
tourists that accommodation of their choice, strictly and conveniently
reserved for them upon arrival in Mecca and Madina for the whole of
their days in the holy land.
4.1.4 Simple nouns
Name of a place designates brand names, products or features of the
products. In advertising tourism facilities, common nouns (such as
name of an enterprise, institution, city, district, holidays and so on) are
the most frequent because they represent the mark of the product and
the facilities offered. Within the same message, name of places could be
repeated or its features several time as in the following extracts:
“Accommodation for our passengers at 4-star hotel adjacent to
Haram in Mecca and Madina”
“lunch and dinner for our passengers in Mecca and Madina”
“Decent accommodation in Mecca and Madina”
“hotels adjacent to the Holy mosques in Mecca and Madina”
“buffet at Minna site”
“Clean and spacious tent at Mina and Arfa sites”

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The extracts 2, 3, 7, 12 and 13 quoted from radio adverts serves as
powerful techniques in sales promotion of the product and at the same
time influence prospective customers’ patronage. By repeating the
name of places as in the extracts above will give the prospective
customers courage that their accommodation facilities would
conveniently situated near or adjacent to the places of worshipping.
4.1.5 Verbs
Majority of the verbs used in radio advertisements are either at present
tenses or in the imperative form. Simple verbal forms are used in order
to deliver a clear message, to satisfy the customers’ needs and also to
express timeless and universality of the message. The imperative usage
appeals to the customers’ emotions and personal desires and
aspirations. Below are the examples of verbs used that appeals to
intending pilgrim tourists from the advertising extracts in 1, 16,17, 18
and 19 as follows:
“at a subsidize cost).
“Extend its commercial boundaries within customers’ reach"
“For ticketing and flight charter arrangements”
“For religious tourists and chartered flight passengers”
“Twenty percent discount on ticket”

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4.1.6 Hyperbole
Hyperbole is “a figure of speech which contains an exaggeration for
emphasis” (Cuddon 1999: 406). According to Wales (2001: 190),
hyperboles are often used for humorous purposes as well as to create
strong impressions and emotional responses. In the following examples
hyperbole is used to emphasize the best features of the advertised
objects and dramatize its significance to the intending pilgrims as
follows:
“We will provide decent accommodation for our passengers at 4-star
hotel adjacent to Haram in Makka and Madina”
“We will provide quality lunch and dinner for our passengers in
Makka and Madina”
“Luxurious buses for shuttling our passengers to holy sites in a
Dignified Way”
“Madeview 747 airbus reserved for our passengers’ pride”
“Air-conditioned tent with buffet at Minna”
“Luxury hotels adjacent to the Holy mosques in Makka and Madina”
“Newly ordered jets, first in Africa”
“The best among its peers”
The above quoted extracts 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 22 from the adverts and
slogans shows that, the advertiser emphasize so much on the product
features as well the individual uniqueness quality of the product that
differentiate one from the other competitors. The exaggeration

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tendencies and the use of appealing words provoke the interest and
attention of the prospective customer to have psychological u-turn in
making the right decision to select and purchase the appropriate
package for economic value.
4.1.7 Personification
Personification means that human characteristics are given to the non-
living things or objects. It is the most commonly used and recognized
literary devices in English which refers to the practice of attaching
human traits and characteristics with inanimate objects, phenomena and
animals. It became part of advertising language as well representing
way how to attract the attention of the potential customers. In the
advertising slogan of Murna travelling agency, personification depicts
as an institution which stand as a body to depend the interest of pilgrim
tourists. It serves as the pilgrims’ last hope in case of any eventualities
or unfulfilled promises by other tour operators. Find below the
example from slogan extract 25:
“Murna: the pilgrims’ hope”
In the above extract, Murna which literally means “happiness” but
symbolizes it attribute to cover pilgrims’ hope in the case of failure
where everybody’s aspiration and hope is to get success which is the

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ultimate. Religious tourists face so much problems ranging from visa
preparation, ticketing, accommodation and local running while in the
holy land. Yet, there is possibility of anticipating failure due to
improper organization and arrangement from tour operators. Therefore,
in this case, Murna stand the chance to serve as a personified reckoning
factor to fall back upon.
4.2 Syntactic Feature of Advertising Slogans
According to their composition, all sentences can be divided into simple,
consisting of a single clause, and multiple, consisting of several clauses (Quirk et
al. 1985, p. 40). Syntactic feature of slogans usually introduce positive qualities
and characteristics of the advertised object in the sentence form. The corpus of the
collected data shows that, the most frequently occurring sentence type are simple
sentences, which tends to be rather short and highly elliptical. Quite often, slogans
in advertisements consist of several short, simple sentences. Short, eye-catching
sentences make slogans easy to remember as obtained in following extracts from
the advertising slogans of the travelling agencies:
“Na gari na kowa”
(The good one for all)
“Kamfanin da babu irinsa “
(The best among its peers)
“Murna sha-re hawayen mahajjata “
(Murna: the pilgrims’ hope)

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“Sabon salo a afrika”
(The new spirit of Africa)
“Jirgin Azman a hau lafiya a sauka lafiya”
(Azman air for safe journey).
The above slogans were in respect of the travelling agencies and airlines quoted
extracts: 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 of Visa travels, Hijaba travels, Murna travelling
agency, Ethiopian airline and Azman airline respectively. The essence of every
advertising slogan is for the audiences to easily remember the advert and to solicit
their patronage in the competitive market. The effectiveness of each company’s
slogan depends on its attraction and the power of language used couple with
benefit and value for money attach to it.
5. CONCLUSION
The use of language in religious tourism advertisement played a significant role in
which advertisers employed to promote the awareness of the product, facilitate the
purchasing process and persuade consumers that one brand is better than another.
As medium of human communication, language serves as vehicle through which
messages were communicated to a wider population and target audience in
advertising chain. Advertising is an inevitable part of the modern capitalist
consumer society in which its outstanding feature is purely competitive in nature.
As media represent the society in all its aspects, tour operators, travelling agencies

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and airlines used advertising language through media in order to capture the
market for competition survival. The linguistic terms and syntactic features of
radio advertising corpus and slogans were basically employed by advertisers to
promote Umra and Hajj tour-packages. The power of language was also used to
persuade, influence and inform customers’ decision to purchase the best package
for economic purposes and value for money.

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