Groomed spaces on Jeju Island: A typology of photographic representations for tourism

Abstract

AbstractJeju Island is a major domestic tourism destination in South Korea and is an increasingly significant international tourism destination, especially for the Japanese and Chinese markets. The Jeju provincial government strongly supports the tourism industry and has, along with the Korean central government, invested heavily in the construction of tourism infrastructure and tourism promotion. There is an abundance of printed literature available to tourists, in the form of brochures and guidebooks, during their stay in Jeju Island. In this study, the types of photographic representations found in that media is identified using a previously developed typology of four ‘spaces’ and four ‘subjects’. Content analysis of a proportional sample of 4115 pages in 225 tourist guidebooks and brochures determined the frequencies of certain ‘types’ of photographs. Further interpretive analysis probes the intentions behind the imagery, if any exist, towards the representational construction of this island's destination image as it appears to the tourist reader. Theoretical issues related to destination image and its representations are explored in light of the findings and implications for tourism policy and management are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.