Comparative multimodal analysis of the representation of world icons in Grade 12 tourism textbooks

The dataset consists of three Grade 12 Tourism textbooks approved by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in South Africa: Oxford Successful Tourism (Blue Book), Focus Tourism (Purple Book), and Via Afrika Tourism (Orange Book). Within these textbooks, six world icons were selected for analysis: Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, the Swiss Alps, the Black Forest, Mount Fuji, and Ayers Rock/Uluru. The data includes the multimodal presentation of these icons, comprising textual descriptions, visual images, page layouts, and symbolic elements. Extracted material from the textbooks encompasses written passages, photographs, illustrations, captions, and the spatial organisation of content relating to each world icon. These elements were gathered to allow for comparison across the three textbooks, focusing on how each icon is represented to learners in the context of tourism education.