‘Pinning’ tourist photographs: analyzing the photographs shared on Pinterest of heritage tourist destinations

Abstract

ABSTRACTWith more tourists researching and booking their travel entirely online, the use of social networking sites (SNSs) has gained popularity amongst both tourists and destination marketing organizations (DMOs). This study examined tourist photographs shared online via the image-based SNS of Pinterest in an effort to understand whether these types of new consumer technologies might be used by DMOs to better target potential visitors. Through visual analysis, the Pinterest photographs of four heritage tourist destinations were explored: Tombstone, Arizona; Virginia City, Nevada; Deadwood, South Dakota; and Dodge City, Kansas. Study findings provide discussion of Pinterest photographs, their visual representation of heritage tourist destinations, and the unique insights that an analysis of these photographs might offer to DMOs.