Instagrammable destinations: the use of photographs in digital tourism marketing in the United Arab Emirates

Purpose: This paper analyses the use of photographs in the digital tourism marketing strategy of DMOs in the lesser studied context of the Middle East to explore what are the contents that define the identity of the destinations based on their social media visual storytelling. Methods: The method...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Noela Michael, Mohamed Aamir Chunawala, Francesc Fusté-Forné
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Hellenic University 2025-06-01
Series:Journal of Tourism, Heritage & Services Marketing
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Online Access:https://zenodo.org/records/15650944/files/11-1-1.pdf?download=1
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Summary:Purpose: This paper analyses the use of photographs in the digital tourism marketing strategy of DMOs in the lesser studied context of the Middle East to explore what are the contents that define the identity of the destinations based on their social media visual storytelling. Methods: The method is based on a visual methodology which consisted of a content analysis of 279 posts published on the Instagram accounts of the United Arab Emirates destinations of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. Results: Results show that the categories that have a more relevant presence in the digital narrative engage visitors with experiences related to fun and adrenaline, architecture, and heritage. Implications: This paper is one of the first to analyse how destinations in the Middle East create a tourism attraction factor through their digital tourism marketing strategy on Instagram.
ISSN:2529-1947