Transnational Perspectives in Regional History: Belle Époque Tourism Advertisements from New Orleans (Louisiana) and Innsbruck (Tyrol).

The article examines Belle Époque tourism advertisements from New Orleans (Louisiana) and Innsbruck (Tyrol) to explore how early tourism marketing contributed to regional identity and urban development at the turn of the twentieth century. It highlights the role of luxurious infrastructures like Grand Hotels and transportation advances in shaping elite tourism experiences, while analyzing advertisements as cultural concentrates that reflect historical self-images and external perceptions. Using social and cultural theories, including Kathrin Bonacker's concept of advertising as a cultural concentrate and John Urry's tourist gaze, the study shows how both cities were promoted as gateways—New Orleans as a literal port linked to the Panama Canal and Innsbruck symbolically connected to the Alpine landscape via the Hungerburg funicular railway. The article argues that such advertising not only marketed the cities themselves but constructed broader regional identities that transcended municipal boundaries through idealized and material representations.