The tourism authority of Flanders and Brussels granted me a scholarship to promote the region. I use all the promotional tourism resources at my disposal to offer my version of Belgian national identity, culminating in several intrusive guided tours of the Grand Place, where I present an alternative to unequivocal, playful, and depoliticized tourism.

The official blog of the tourism office was transformed into a legitimizing tool to include new “meanings” of Belgian tourist heritage: that is, to highlight cultural attractions that hold no economic interest for institutions but carry significant social importance, such as the cheapest beer on the market, the custom of decorating windows, or the metaphorical similarity between Belgian national identity and French fries. The articles on this blog were compiled into a tourist guide that was visually identical to the official guide and self distributed to the region’s various tourist offices.