Destination Image of DMO and UGC on Instagram: A Machine-Learning Approach

Roman Egger,Richard Mükisch,Veronika Surkic,Elza Kaiumova,Oguzcan Gumus

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-94751-4_31

Roman Egger, Richard Mükisch + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94751-4_31

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Publication Date: Jan 1, 2022
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Salzburg University of Applied Sciences

Abstract

AbstractSocial media plays a key role in shaping the image of a destination. Although recent research has investigated factors influencing online users’ perception towards destination image, limited studies encompass and compare social media content shared by tourists and destination management organisations (DMOs) at the same time. This paper aims to determine whether the projected image of DMOs corresponds with the destination image perceived by tourists. By taking the Austrian Alpine resort Saalbach-Hinterglemm as a case, a netnographic approach was applied to analyse the visual and textual posts of DMO and user-generated content (UGC) on Instagram using machine learning. The findings reveal themes that are not covered in the posts published by marketers but do appear in UGC. This study adds to the existing literature by providing a deeper insight into destination image formation and uses a qualitative approach to assess destination brand image. It further highlights practical implications for the industry regarding DMOs’ social media marketing strategy.

Highlights

The rise of social media has changed the process of information creation and communication, which affects consumer behaviour, marketing strategies, and brand image [1]
Social media further fosters the production of user-generated content (UGC), referring to any content created by consumers online [2]
Seeing that official information provided by destination marketing organisations (DMOs) no longer has absolute control over image creation [5], DMOs are suggested to be aware of tourists’ perception of the destination in order to develop quality marketing campaigns [2]

Summary

Introduction

The rise of social media has changed the process of information creation and communication, which affects consumer behaviour, marketing strategies, and brand image [1]. Seeing that official information provided by destination marketing organisations (DMOs) no longer has absolute control over image creation [5], DMOs are suggested to be aware of tourists’ perception of the destination in order to develop quality marketing campaigns [2]. This can be determined through UGC analysis, which enables marketers to view destinations from tourists’ perspectives and discover what they are most interested in [9]. Despite the importance of image congruence [10], scholars in the field of destination marketing mainly analyse the image created by tourists [2] or DMOs [11] rather than comparing both contexts at the same time [12]

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