Do visitors gaze and reproduce what destination managers wish to commercialise? Perceived and projected image in the UNESCO World Heritage area

Abstract

Destination image plays a key role in helping people decide where to travel and affects satisfaction, likelihood of return visits and word of mouth. While photography is not the only way of projecting and perceiving an image, 'a picture paints a thousand words'. The rise of social media and usergenerated content has made the image formation process more complex, and has reduced the extent of control that tourism suppliers can exert on the image they wish to project. It is thus necessary to further investigate whether tourists reproduce the commercialised image in what the literature calls the 'hermeneutic circle of representation' or capture and share their own impressions. This study constructs a categorisation scheme for conducting photography-based image analysis to compare images of two Norwegian destinations as projected by destination management organisations with those shared by Instagram users (perceived image). Results indicate that this circle of representation is not hermeneutic.

Measurement model of the projected and perceived image through the organizational identity of the Volvo Ocean Race Brazil event

“…This action is highlighted by the understanding of the critical role of the internet in the construction and communication of identity and image (Ji and Wall, 2011; Lian and Yu, 2017; Lin and Zins, 2016). However, it also signals the current complexity in managing image, considering the reduction in control over what is communicated and manifested in social media, which may directly influence the perceived image (Fossgard et al , 2018).…”

“…Overall, these studies shed light on the importance of online content and social media in shaping the image of destinations and the role of sporting events as a marketing tool. The rise of social media and user-generated content has made the image formation process more complex and reduced the extent of control tourism providers can exert over the image they wish to project (Fossgard et al , 2018).…”

Exploring the Discrepancy between Projected and Perceived Destination Images: A Cross-Cultural and Sustainable Analysis Using LDA Modeling

“…Therefore, to attract more tourists, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) actively promote the tourism image of a destination to tourists and potential tourists through online platforms such as official websites and social media. A tourism destination image (TDI) is generated by the two-way interaction between the projected image on the supply side and the perceived image on the demand side [2] and plays an important role in marketing, brand differentiation, and destination selection [3][4][5][6][7][8].…”