The Image of Moscow in Tourist Agencies’ Media Texts and in the Linguistic Consciousness of Russians

The article presents a comparative analysis of the images of Moscow, one constructed by media texts of tourist agencies and the other existing in the linguistic consciousness of Russians. The relevance of this research is determined by Moscow's significant role as a tourist center and the need to investigate mechanisms of linguistic construction of urban images. The study aims to identify similarities and differences in the structural elements of Moscow’s image as represented in media texts and as perceived by Russians and to establish the reasons for the identified discrepancies. The models of Moscow’s image, comprising core, near-core, and peripheral components, were constructed based on an analysis of media texts and informants’ responses obtained through a linguistic experiment. The study material included 223 lexical items used in media texts sourced from official websites of tourist agencies and 217 responses from informants residing in various Russian regions. The findings have revealed that media texts construct an idealized image of Moscow, emphasizing its historical-cultural features, uniqueness, and attractiveness for tourists while avoiding the everyday aspects of urban life. Conversely, the linguistic consciousness of Russians predominantly includes characteristics related to personal everyday experiences (the city size, mood, noise, comfort, cleanliness, etc.). The core and near-core components of Moscow's media image and those entrenched in the linguistic consciousness of Russians barely overlap. The paper concludes that when developing marketing strategies for promoting Moscow as a tourism brand it is essential to incorporate Russians' authentic perceptions of the capital. The presented results can be valuable to specialists in psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, marketing, and advertising.