This presentation considers if, and to what extent, social media can change the viewer’s image of a tourism destination as well as which types of visual content are most effective. The results from an online survey, which compared three different test groups and their image of Mexico City, showed that UGC images from Instagram, as well as random Google images, were more effective at improving destination image than UGC images reposted by a DMO. Additionally, the study used image annotation to determine which features in images were most important in terms of their contribution to an improvement in overall destination image.

1. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 1
The Impact of Social Media on
perceived Destination Image:
the case of Mexico City on Instagram
Asst.Prof. Dr. Lyndon J B Nixon
MODUL University Vienna, Austria
lyndon.nixon@modul.ac.at
http://www.modul.ac.at/nmt

2. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 2
Overview of my talk
• What is VISUAL Destination Image?
• Measuring the perception of destinations
through images
• Can visual social media change our
perceptions?
• The case of Mexico City on Instagram

3. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 3
Destination Image

4. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 4
Destination Image
Destination image is „the reasoned and emotional perception
of an individual regarding a location based on own
knowledge/beliefs about the location and affective appraisals
of the location through external stimuli.“
Beerli, A. & Martín, J.D. (2004). Factors Influencing Destination Image. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(3), pp. 657-681.
Measurement of destination image seen as important to
tourism stakeholders, both to determine how a destination is
perceived among a target audience and to seek to influence
that perception – fundamentally to achieve destination visits.

5. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 5
Images and Destinations

6. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 6
Images and Destinations
• Social media is now more important to travel planning than
travel agents
• 97% of millennials share photos and videos of their travels
online
• 40% of millennials consider “Instagrammability” when
choosing a destination
http://www.travolution.com/articles/102216/survey-highlights-instagram-as-key-factor-in-destination-choice-among-millennials

7. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 7
Visual analyses in e-tourism
In e-tourism research, we still lack standardized and repeated
approaches to the analysis of visual content with respect to
perception of destinations! (Picazo & Moreno-Gil, 2017)
(1) Can we measure the „Visual Destination Image“?
(2) Can we measure if exposure to visual representations of
destinations can influence the viewers perception of the
destination?
Regarding destination photography, there is less research using
social media and even less using Instagram...
„Analysis of the projected image of tourism destinations on photographs: A literature review to prepare for the future“ Journal of
Vacation Marketing I-22.

8. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 8
Can Destination Image
change through visual
social media exposure?
We have created an experiment to test if online photos can change a
viewer‘s perception of the destination.
We chose Mexico City because it was likely we find people who
have not been to Mexico / Latin America & there are misconceptions
that people have who have not visited Mexico / Latin America.
https://bohemiantraveler.com/2010/10/misconceptions-about-mexico-city/

9. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 9
measuring
Visual Destination Image
We formed 3 groups, each was shown 20 photos selected from a
different source:
Group 1 – professional photography from a Mexico City
photographer @tavoojasso
Group 2 – most recent Mexico City photos posted by DMO
@visitmexico
Group 3 – baseline: random 20 images from a Google
Images search on „Mexico City“
We manually annotated each Instagram photo according to our
annotation model (see next slide).
In the future, we will need more automated approaches.

10. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 10
Due to the lack of a common
annotation vocabulary, we created
our own for destination image
based on (Beerli, 2004).
53 cognitive attributes relevant to
visual media were extracted, often
expanding the original attribute,
and after the manual annotation 3
missing attributes were added.
Destination Image
annotation

11. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 11
We performed our tests with 56 participants, split into 3 groups
(23/17/16). 73% were 18-24.
A survey was used to determine perception of Mexico City at the
beginning, then the photos were shown, then a survey determined
perception of Mexico City after seeing the photos.
Wilcoxon signed rank was used to determine significant change in
perception of an attribute, comparing Likert scale responses before
and after exposure to the photos.
Experiment procedure

12. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 12
The results suggest that DMO marketing is no more effective than
professional photography or popular imagery.

13. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 13
Conclusions
• The experiment showed that the strongest positive change could be
achieved in the attributes seen initially as most negative: general
infrastructure, political and economic factors, natural environment,
modern architecture
– Photos with „Tree“ and „Modern Building“ were the most effective
– No photo was annotated with a political or economic factor, but better
impressions of the other features appear to have improved its perception
• Limitations: small sample size, other destinations would have other
results
• Recommendations: Destination marketing should focus on correcting
negative impressions, promoting professional photography of the
destination could be as effective as DMO specific efforts (encourage
use of hashtags on Instagram, SEO for Web search)

14. TURITEC 2018 Slide Number 14
THANK YOU for your attention
Dr Lyndon Nixon
MODUL University Vienna
lyndon.nixon@modul.ac.at