Cultural heritage and co-creation in the Web 2.0. An exploratory study on TripAdvisor photos

Abstract

Objectives. In the Web 2.0, the role of photos in tourists’ decision process has greatly increased. In particular, tourists cocreate destination attractiveness in unexpected ways. For example, even when sharing their experience about a hotel on social media, tourists tend to include photos regarding the cultural heritage of a destination, thus influencing other potential tourists’ expectations. This paper intends to investigate how tourists perceive and share their experience about (i.e. co-create) cultural heritage on the Internet. Methodology. A content-analysis approach was adopted. Four Italian destinations sharing similar characteristics in terms of heritage were identified and a total of 3.001 user-generated photos collected on TripAdvisor were analyzed. Findings. The study highlights the contribution of co-creation to cultural heritage. Tourists, when sharing their experience (photos, in particular) about a hotel on social media, are also co-creating and sharing cultural heritage. Research limits. To increase the robustness of the results, the data collected, limited to a single source (i.e. TripAdvisor), need to be expanded to include more sources and more destinations. Practical implications. Tourists are co-creators of cultural heritage: Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) must be aware of this change to better manage the cultural heritage value proposition, and to minimize the gap between perceived and desired cultural heritage. Originality of the study. The originality of this study is twofold. First, content analysis was adopted to analyse user-generated photos. Second, the study shed new light on the concept of cultural heritage in the Web 2.0, emphasizing tourists’ role in the cocreation of destination heritage.