Verbalizing the Idea of Exclusiveness in BBC Travel Texts

The article explores lexical, lexical-grammatical and grammatical means of verbalizing the idea of exclusiveness in BBC Travel texts. Defining exclusiveness as the state of being available to a limited group of people due to their privileged status or because of high cost of a product, the analysis of 60 BBC Travel articles suggests that the choice of linguistic means is delimited by the destination the authors describe: Europe, America, Asia, Africa or Middle East. The results of the analysis demonstrate that describing Europe the authors focus on its history, art and attractions, America is marked by its feel-good factors, Africa and Middle East are presented as exclusive due to their nature and authentic culture, and destinations in Asia are famous for their pristine nature and urbanization. The paper proves that the use of linguistic means is constrained by the topic and genre of discourse.


Introduction
Modern stage of linguistic research is characterized by keen interest in discourse which is understood as any coherent succession of sentences, spoken or written [Matthews 2005, p. 100], and the communicative situation in which they are produced [Dijk 1985, p. 12]. There are two basic lines of discourse studies: communicative which accounts for discourse in connection to the constitutive elements of a communicative situation such as participants, message, code, medium, setting, and feedback [Ihina 2012, p. 38], and functional where language is viewed as one of the means of constructing reality as well person's social activity [Потапенко 2009, p. 10]. Within the functional approach, discourse is defined as a social construal of reality whereby language functions as the means of realizing a person's activity in two perspectives: cognitive and social [ibid. ]. In this field, different typologies of discourses are worked out, assuming different factors and principles as a basis for classification. In this paper, the interest is directed to media discourse that is distinguished according to the criterion of the channel, being mass media, and that of the topic. Media discourse is a reality constructed by mass media mediating the production, storage, dissemination and usage of socially important information [Потапенко 2009, p. 11] to wide audience in order to influence people's opinions, behaviours, estimations etc. [ФЭС 1989, p. 864]. It is with media discourse studies that the research of BBC Travel texts is located.
BBC Travel is a feature section within BBC. com that provides content on destinations around the world. It is directed to readers who, in the words of contributing editor Ellie Cobb, are passionate about "people, places, experiences and cultures that make this world so wonderfully diverse and amazing" [BBC, e-ref]. In the media, the world is currently described as an incredibly negative place, and travel sites have generally followed suit, featuring baggage fees and flight delays, blackout dates and how long it takes to get to a particular destination. In a world of negative news, BBC Travel section is focused on the experience of travel itself, featuring the stories with new or unexpected angles that haven't been covered before. Verbalizing different ideaspredominantly positive -is crucial while targeting at the readers who want to learn about the world as much as they want to travel there. The idea of exclusiveness verbalized in BBC Travel texts contributes to creating new, unexpected and emotionally engaging stories from all around the world, since in global community where everything is available at the first click, there is a strong need to learn something exclusive and experience something firsthand. The definition of the word exclusive as "1) not shared, available to only one person or group; 2) only allowing in people from a high social class; 3) available to only a few people because of high cost" [MW, e-ref] suggests that BBC Travel texts verbalizing this idea are informative, entertaining and promotional. This study is relevant due to the importance of studying the role of various means of verbalizing ideas in media discourse. The aim of this research is to study the means of verbalizing the idea of exclusiveness in BBC Travel texts.
The paper is structured in the following way. The outline of previous research into media discourse suggested in Section 1 will be developed in Section 2. There, I will explain the method I adopt for this investigation. Section 3 will demonstrate how the idea of exclusiveness is verbalised in BBC Travel texts. It will be shown that the choice of linguistic means is defined by the destination the authors describe: Europe, America, Asia, Africa or Middle East. In the concluding section, I reflect on further investigations of verbalizing other ideas such as comfort, novelty, extreme, escapism, romanticism etc.

Material and methods
Since BBC Travel section contains a plethora of texts and not all of them verbalize the idea of exclusiveness, I suggest the procedures of selecting and analyzing the texts related to our research.
Selection of texts is performed in three stages -definitional, classificatory and interpretational. At the first stage, the semantics of the word exclusive is analyzed and in view of the definition of exclusiveness, I suggest classifying BBC Travel texts into three groups reflecting the following aspects of exclusivity: to the first group we refer texts describing limited access to some goods, services and experiences; the second group comprises those describing availability of something to a high social class; and the third group includes the articles highlighting the availability of something through high cost.
In the second -classificatory -stage we analyze the headlines of the BBC Travel articles and refer them to one of the suggested groups. For example, the headline Bhutan's dark secrets to happiness (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/ 20150408-bhutans-dark-secret-tohappiness) singles out a group of people (the residents of Bhutan) who experience what happiness is. The lexical item secrets to shows the limited access to happiness -not all people can feel it. In the headline A perfect day in Doha (http://www. bbc. com/ travel/story/20110729-aperfect-day-in-doha) the evaluative adjective perfect describes the time spending everyone would like to enjoy. But here a day may be perfect only to those who visit an exclusive place -the capital of Qatar. Thus, these headlines depict a limited access and are referred to the first group.
The importance of describing the limited access is explained by the fact that BBC Travel journalists write about travels, exploring the lives of people in different countries -their culture, customs, traditions, and everyday life are inaccessible to ordinary people. Appealing to exclusivity, the headlines of the BBC Travel articles encourage the readers to act, namely, not only to read the title but also the article itself and probably go to the place described. With the headlines the journalists can intrigue the reader [Медіалінгвістика 2013, p. 29].
During the third stage -interpretational -we analyze the linguistic means through which the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized in the articles. For example, in the article Bhutan's dark secrets to happiness the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized by the words special and specialness in the following fragment: Bhutan is indeed a special place (and Ura, director of the Centre for Bhutan Studies, a special person) but that specialness is more nuanced and, frankly, less sunny than the dreamy Shangri-La image we project onto it (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20150408-bhutans-dark-secret-to-happiness).
In the article A perfect day in Doha the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized by the phrases something a little bit quirky, that teapot from the British administration and the date palm that you always wanted, that designate exclusive things which cannot be bought in ordinary shops and malls: Looking for something a little bit quirky? The best place to visit is the Second-hand Market in Doha's Najma area. It is a great place to find that teapot from the British administration, minus the spout no doubt, or the date palm that you always wanted (http://www. bbc. com/ travel/story/20110729-a-perfect-day-in-doha).
Thus, the idea of exclusiveness is first introduced in the headlines of the BBC Travel articles by the corresponding words, their derivatives and synonyms, and then the chosen aspect of the topic develops in the article that presupposes the use of linguistic units.

Results and Discussion
Defining exclusiveness as the state of being available to a limited group of people due to their privileged status or because of high cost of a product, we analyzed 60 BBC Travel articles and classified them into three groups reflecting the following aspects of exclusivity: (1) limited access; (2) availability to a high social class; (3) availability through high cost. Judging from the linguistic expressions in the articles about various regions of the world, we have found that most articles describe exclusive destinations in view of the limited access. Only in the section Europe, there are texts that describe availability through high cost. High social class is not appealed to in BBC Travel texts at all.
The choice of linguistic means is defined by the destination the authors describe: either it is Europe, America, Asia, Africa or Middle East. Any destination can offer exclusive experiences, based on its unique natural features, attractions or culture, but the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized differently in travel stories about various destinations.

Types of exclusiveness:
 Europe: history, art and attractions  America: feel-good factors  Africa and Middle East: nature and authentic culture  Asia: pristine nature and urbanization This section explains the peculiarities of verbalization of the idea of exclusiveness in BBC Travel texts.

Europe: history, art and attractions
Europe is the biggest section on BBC Travel having the greatest amount of stories. Destinations in Europe are depicted as extremely exclusive because they have epic history, magnificent art and awesome attractions that, in view of the BBC journalists, no other places can offer. For example, the article with the headline Spain's untranslatable secret to lunch describes an exclusively Spanish part of the meal -sobremesa (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20180424-a-uniquely-spanish-part-ofthe-meal). It is the time people spend at the table after they have finished eating. In this headline, the lexical item secret to shows the limited access to this experience -only Spanish people have it. And the participle untranslatable emphasized the idea of its uniqueness.
Further in the article, the author explains: There is no equivalent word in English, though the concept is simple: sobremesa is the time you spend at the table after you've finished eating. In this sentence, the author uses Spanish word sobremesa to show that lunch has a unique ritual in that country and only the visitors to Spain will have an exclusive access to it. The phrase no equivalent word in English emphasizes the idea of exclusiveness, because English as lingua franca seems to have words to refer to various objects and artifacts of different cultures, but with the Spanish lunch ritual there is no English word to name it. It may be explained by the fact that the practice of sitting at the table for some time even after you have finished eating may be odd and unacceptable for the English-speaking community: Britons value their time -they eat and go and Americans do not pay attention to eating habits at all -they may eat while going or doing something else.
The descriptions of Europe on BBC Travel are diverse and engaging. If you travel to Europe, you need to have money. There is no way to tour Europe and not be awestruck by its scenic beauty, epic history and dazzling artistic and culinary diversity. But the most common descriptions that contribute to the idea of exclusiveness are those manifesting European history, art and attractions.
History. The exclusiveness of destinations in Europe consists in describing European history from a new perspective, namely, in the details that are not available to everybody. European history is generally thought to be well-known and much described, explained and highlighted in the media. The peculiarity of BBC Travel stories is that the journalists find the details that are not well-known to common readership and present them as something very exclusive.
The linguistic units that are used to verbalize the idea of exclusiveness in BBC Travel stories about European history are: 1. Nouns secret, mystery and enigma used with the attributes denoting ancient times, longevity or long-lasting effects, e. g. A 2000year old unsolved mystery (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20161014-a-2000-year-old-unsolved-mystery). This headline verbalizes the idea of exclusiveness by suggesting solving the age-long mystery in Denmark's history -only those people who visit that destination will have exclusive access to the information to open the mystery.
2. Participles hidden, buried, long-lost, little-known, e. g. It is a prime example of just how special lesser-known locales can be (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/ 20131121 -seven-incredible-placesyou-may-have-never-heard-of). The peculiarity of these participles is that they create the vision of exclusivity by saying that some destinations are not available because modern cities have changed their faces and people cannot get access to some remote, buried, hidden placed that are the roots of the history.
3. Spatial phrases beneath the surface, underground, out of, far from, from the outside world, e. g. Buried just 60cm beneath the city's modern surface, the long-lost River Farset that gave Belfast its name still flows silently through the heart of Northern Ireland's capital (http://www. bbc. com/travel/ story/20180530-northern-irelands-secret-undergroundriver). In this sentence, the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized by the words buried and long-lost and the expression beneath the city's modern surface.
In the stories about the destinations with epic history, the idea of exclusiveness is elaborated in the following way. First, the headline contains the name of the destination -the city, the country or the place where some particular historic events took place. This destination is represented as exclusive with the help of the linguistic units singled out above. Used in the headline, they make an effect that there is something in the history that the readers don't know, and that only few people who are able to visit the place have access to this exclusive information. And those read the stories are also gain access to it. This makes the visitors of the BBC site read such articles.
Secondly, the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized throughout the article in the choice of linguistic means singled out above and their distribution. For example, the article The secret hiding below Belfast tells that beneath the city there is a river called Farset which was a usual river long ago and the city was built on it like all ancient cities. The city was called Belfast due to the river -Béal Feirste means 'the sandy ford at the mouth of the Farset' in Irish. In 1848, the Farset that flowed through the city centre was buried underground and it has remained hidden from sight ever since. And the tunnels where the river flows now is represented as an extremely exclusive place, because it was forgotten by those walking just above it.
In the headline The secret hiding below Belfast, there are two words that verbalize the idea of exclusiveness: secret and hiding. Since a secret is understood as "something kept from knowledge or view" [MWD], by telling about the underground river below Belfast that no one knows the journalist provides exclusive information to the readers. The word hiding refers to the place that is kept out of people's sight -again the same river.
At the beginning of the article, the author openly announces that the report is going to be exclusive by making a contrast between tens of thousands of people who visit Belfast every day and few of those who had exclusive access to the hidden tunnel: Tens of thousands of people pass by downtown Belfast's Victorian turrets, buzzing quaysides and cobbled Cathedral Quarter streets every day -but few people realise that there's a secret hiding just below their feet (http://www. bbc. com/travel/ story/20180530-northern-irelands-secret-underground-river). In this example, the numerical expression tens of thousands of people is hyperbolic -in fact, no one has ever counted how many people pass by downtown Belfast every day. This hyperbole creates a more striking contrast between people who never accessed the tunnel and those who are the only ones to have access to it.
After singling out a group of few people who are happy to have an access to the exclusive place, the author positions herself within this group in the sentence We descended into the city's cavernous underbelly to find it (ibid.). Here, the personal pronoun we performs an inclusive function demonstrating the author's direct participation in this excursion. Moreover, this pronoun unites the author with the readers implying "I and you with me" are experiencing this firsthand. This involvement is demonstrated several times in the story by using the pronoun you which addresses the readers, e. g. If you stopped anyone in downtown Belfast to ask, they wouldn't have a clue that there's a river running through the centre of High Street where boats once sailed up and down. (…) It's the secret river you can't see anymore, but that's because it was an open sewer.
Throughout the article, the author uses the words that verbalize the idea of exclusiveness: the participles hidden, buried, long-lost, littleknown, spatial phrases beneath the surface, underground, out of, far from, from the outside world etc. and the nouns secret, e. g. For 170 years, the river that gave Belfast its name has been buried underground in a hidden tunnel (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20180530northern-irelands-secret-underground-river).
Similar distribution of linguistic expressions is found in the article How a German city changed how we read (http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/ 20180507-how-a-german-city-changed-how-we-read).
The headline foregrounds Mainz -a German city where printing press was invented.
Mainz is represented as an exclusive place: Despite the farreaching consequences of Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, much about the man remains a mystery, buried deep beneath layers of Mainz history. The underlined words refer to the limited access -not everyone can unravel the mystery of Gutenberg.
Art. Europe is represented as the only region where people can view works of art everywhere beyond the art halls, even in the unexpected places like bathrooms of the European hotels. Unlike the whole world where people need to go art galleries, museums and exhibitions, Europe has brought art to people in the places of their everyday activitiesstreets, hotels, shops, underground stations etc. This is manifested in the choice of linguistic units which these articles utilize.
BBC Travel articles about European art describe availability through high cost and the choice of linguistic units is the following.
First, the authors name some exclusive works of art or fashionable and trendy items that are not available to everyone, e. g. If rare antiques, exclusive ceramics, unique interior decor and unusual souvenirs are your thing, Stockholm's antique scene will not disappoint. Located in a basement that was once used by fishmongers, "Beyond Retro" is one of the premier spots for vintage shopping (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20120207-stockholms-vintage-style). In this fragment, exclusive boutique in Stockholm is described as the premier spot, and the underlined nominative units represent exclusive goods that can be accessed only in this boutique.
Secondly, the authors describe exclusive access to the items that are rare and not available. The most important idea is that only in Europe people can get exclusive access to rare things, e. g. You can pick through Victorian-era attire, 1920s beaded flapper dresses, 1930s evening gowns, 1980s prom dresses, 1990s grunge-rock inspired denim wear, hats, wigs, accessories and much more (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20120207-stockholms-vintage-style). This sentence taken from the article headlined Stockholm's vintage style enumerates the items of garment that are not available to everyone for several reasons. First, because they are vintage and many of them have been ruined in the course of time. Secondly, these things are not numerousnot everyone can get access to them. But in an exclusive boutique in Stockholm we may get them -the phrase you can pick signifies it.
The article headlined Business travel gets artsy tells how exclusive works of art become accessible to business travellers across Europe who stay in top hotels (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20130116business-travel-gets-artsy). This article follows the pattern of distribution of linguistic means explained above with one more step. First, the author names exclusive works of art: Around 40 works by more than 20 contemporary artists, such as Paul Villinski, Jorge Pardo, Alyson Shotz and Mark Fox, have been installed, including 14 commissioned specifically for the opening.
Second, he shows that the visitors can have exclusive access to the works of art at the hotels' dining rooms, bathrooms, halls and conference halls, e. g. An art experience program brings works by such esteemed artists as Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso into the hotel's public spaces (http://www. bbc. com/ travel/story/20130116business-travel-gets-artsy).

"St Martins Lane Hotel" in central London has been hosting the Best Art Vinyl competition, where 50 eclectic sleeve designs of 2012 are on display. The award compiled global public votes online and the winner --The Temper Traps with their self-titled LP with pictures of connections in a human brain --was announced on 10 January (ibid.).
And it is not just hotels; art is moving into other travel spaces, too, e. g. Next month Virgin Atlantic's club lounges in London Heathrow and New York's JFK and Newark airports will be hosting 11 bespoke pieces of art by prolific British street artist Ben Eine. There will also be a virtual art gallery, seen via in-flight-entertainment system, on flights between the two cities during the month of February, with videos about the artist and the creation of the pieces (ibid.).
However, there is the third step that brings a limitation -when speaking about the hotels, the author uses the attributes top and top-end that imply limited access due to high cost, e. g. Top hotels are collaborating with galleries and filling their hallways, guest and dining rooms with works of art in a bid to make stays more memorable (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20130116-business-travel-gets-artsy). The Alexander, a top-end hotel opening in Indianapolis, Indiana on 21 January, will feature paintings and installations curated by the impressive Indianapolis Museum of Art (ibid.).
Moreover, the author uses the words business people, business travellers and business leaders throughout the article implying that only these people have access to such hotels and exhibitions, e. g. "The good thing is that it creates memories. A business leader will remember hosting a meeting among Picassos," said Greg Tinsley, general manager of the hotel (ibid.). In this sentence, a business leader is foregrounded and represented as more important than Picasso.
Attractions. The exclusiveness of destinations in Europe also consists in describing various attractions -places and sights associated with some interesting events. The linguistic means verbalizing the idea of exclusiveness denote: 1) The number of people that have access to the attraction, e. g. Seven million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year, but now a handful of those visitors will get to sleep in the iconic structure for the very first time (http://www. bbc. com /travel/story/20160616-a-hotel-room-in-theeiffel-tower). In this sentence, taken from the article headlined A Hotel room in the Eifel Tower? the phrases seven million people and a handful of those visitors create the effect of limited access.
2) Limited time during which the attraction is available, e. g. Holiday rental company "Home Away" has constructed a temporary VIP apartment on the first level of the tower, open only for the duration of the UEFA Euro football tournament from 10 June to 10 July (ibid.). Here, the underlined phrase open only for the duration of the UEFA Euro football tournament from 10 June to 10 July sets distinct limits for people to access the place and the nominative unit VIP apartment contributes to the idea of exclusiveness.
3) Very remote or hardly reachable places, e. g. As I climbed the narrow staircase of the gothic church tower in Nördlingen, Germany, the worn stone steps appeared to glimmer in the sunlight, bringing unexpected flashes of light to what should have been a dark, grey climb to the top (http://www. bbc. com/travel/ story/20171121-the-germantown-encrusted-with-diamonds). In this sentence, the author shares his exclusive itinerary -the narrow staircase of the gothic church tower in Nördlingen.
Moreover, the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized more generally with the phrase nowhere else in the world: During construction of the town, which was first mentioned in records in the 9th Century AD, the settlers didn't realise the stone they were using was embedded with millions of tiny diamonds, in a concentration seen nowhere else in the world (http://www. bbc. com/travel/ story/20171121-the-german-townencrusted-with-diamonds). This sentence is taken from the article The German town encrusted with diamonds which says long ago an asteroid slammed into the ground with such force that it created a 26km-wide crater. The force of the asteroid impact transformed the existing bedrock into diamond-riddled suevite stone. And there is no other place like this.
Thus, the descriptions of Europe on BBC Travel are diverse. The most common contributing to the idea of exclusiveness are those manifesting European history, art and attractions.

America: feel-good factors
America is depicted in BBC Travel stories as an exclusive destination because in no other place can people feel as good as there. It is in America that people value emotional experience above all, and in particular -feeling good is the most important factor and the reason to travel to the USA.
The article with the headline The city where people don't get angry depicts Mexico city as the only place where people never lose emotional control. In this headline, the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized grammatically -the noun city is followed by the restrictive attributive clause. Crucially, the function of such clauses is to place a restriction on the referent expressed by the noun antecedent [Language development 2009, p. 247]. Besides, the definite article signals the particular, unique referent -Mexico City -not a common representative of the class.
Further in the article, the author verbalizes the idea of exclusiveness twice -first, sharing her own exclusive travel experience and secondly, the comments of a man who lives there. In the sentence The cultural norms in Mexico City involve a level of politeness, at least on a superficial level, that I've not experienced in other cities of its size (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20171126-in-mexico-city-pleasantries-help-keep-the-cityafloat) the phrase I've not experienced in other cities points out to the author's exclusive experience -only there, in Mexico city, people were so polite to her, that she was ready to pay for it. In the sentence "Only here we greet each other in such a way," said Diego Robles, a Mexico City poet and student of Nahuatl (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20171126in-mexico-city-pleasantries-help-keep-the-city-afloat) the phrase only here refers to Mexico City -the exclusive place of "very polite people." The headline You must be good looking to live here refers to Las Vegas. This city is special and suggests exclusive experiences because locals "rub elbows with celebrities" like Jennifer Lopez from the gym to grocery store (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20170917-thesurprising-side-to-las-vegas-that-few-know). Because of this, the locals need to look good even going to work or on an ordinary occasion. Also, the article describes a surprising side of this city which only few people know -it has the atmosphere of a small town in some remote districts where locals live. The author makes these areas seem exclusive by drawing a strong contrast between the neighborhoods where the celebrities rest and the ones where the locals live: With its glitzy casinos, never-ending nightlife and tens of millions of tourists, Las Vegas looms large in the international imagination. But with just 600,000 residents (the greater metropolitan region has a population of 2. 2 million), the city has a small-town side that only locals know [ibid.].

Africa and Middle East: nature and authentic culture
Africa and Middle East are depicted as extremely exclusive destinations because of their unique nature and authentic culture. An important feature here is that nature and culture are so closely intervolved that it is difficult to set them apart from each other. In the headline Ethiopia's miraculous underground churches the adjective miraculous contributes to the idea of exclusiveness, because seeing a miracle is something not common. The article describes that "For centuries, the origin of Lalibela's rock-hewn churches has eluded everyone except locals, who firmly believe they were carved by angels" (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20170817-ethiopias-miraculous-underground-churches). The phrase has eluded everyone except locals depicts the locals as special people who have an exclusive access to the unique place of worship and those who will have the possibility to travel there will be let in.
The article Saudi Arabia's silent desert city depicts a city to which people have no access because much of the city still lies under layers of sand. Several times the author reiterates the words desert and deserted referring to the city: I was travelling with friends to Saudi Arabia's hidden desert city of Madain Saleh. (…) Tucked away in the desert, today Madain Saleh is deserted, silent and stunningly well-preserved. (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20170418-saudi-arabias-silent-desertcity). The words desert and deserted imply that there are no people there, but since the author gives his report being there, he shares a unique and exclusive experience with the readers.
Similarly, the headline of the article An island only helicopters can reach implies not only a very remote location, but also seclusion, and limited access (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20160202-the-villagesthat-time-forgot). In fact, the tiny villages of the island were all but cut off from the outside world: The only way in or out of the amphitheatreshaped valley is by foot -or, in a pinch, by helicopter (ibid.). the word the only demonstrates one possible way and no other ways.
Luckily -because it is the only option available to most visitorshiking is an excellent way to experience the wild and isolated area, though the hundreds of kilometres of trails are not for the inexperienced or those suffering from vertigo, and they should never be hiked alone (ibid.) The phrase the only option available indicates limited access and no choice and isolated area in the combination with the verb to experience verbalize the idea of exclusiveness.
The authors also create a striking contrast between a great number of people and a small group of people: While many people have heard of Nabatean capital Petra in Jordan, Madain Saleh, the Nabateans' second-largest city and a Unesco World Heritage Site, remains relatively unknown (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/ 20170418-saudi-arabiassilent-desert-city). This contrast is very effective, because it creates the impression of exclusiveness.
One more way to verbalize the idea of exclusiveness is using the superlative degree and Genitive partitive. In the headline The hottest inhabited place on Earth, the adjective hot is used in the superlative degree which implies the highest level of the presence of the quality (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20160913-inside-ethiopias-sizzlingcauldron?ocid=AsiaOne). In the sentence And Mafate is one of the few places left in the world to see an ecosystem that has developed over millions of years in relative isolation (ibid.), the genitive partitive phrase one of the few places implies the limited access to this destination.
So, Africa and Middle East are depicted exclusive because of their unique nature and authentic culture. In these regions nature and culture are so closely intervolved that it is difficult to set them apart from each other.

Asia: pristine nature and urbanization
The exclusiveness of Asia is created by depicting pristine nature which closely merges with urbanization. In no other place of the world can the travelers see such opposites balanced together. For example, in the headline A disappearing desert oasis the participle disappearing contributes to the idea of exclusiveness, because soon there will be no access to this desert. Seeing natural phenomena that will soon cease to exist is described by BBC Travel authors as an exclusive experience which further is seen in the article. The sentence The little-known irrigation marvel as significant as the Great Wall of China (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20170307-an-ancient-oasis-in-chinas-remote-desert) verbalizes the idea of exclusiveness by the words little-known and marvel and in the sentence After driving all day through the surreal landscape, Ahmat and I stopped to purchase a bag of Turpan's famous dried grapes for 10 yuan (ibid.) the author uses the phrase surreal landscape.
In the headline The city that comes alive after dark, the idea of exclusiveness is verbalized grammatically -the noun city is followed by the restrictive attributive clause. Since the function of such clauses is to place a restriction on the referent expressed by the noun antecedent, this noun denotes an exclusive place. Besides, the definite article signals the particular, unique referent, not a common representative of the class. Further in the article, the author verbalizes the idea of exclusiveness implicitly: With its unique mix of cultures, languages and religions, Kuala Lumpur often gets described by locals as a 'big melting pot', where different traditions are openly celebrated (http://www. bbc. com/travel/story/20180513-is-this-the-food-capital-of-asia).