Revisit the circle of representation in Web 2.0

ABSTRACT

Visual perception plays a leading role in tourism destination marketing. In the era of Web 2.0, it is critical to understand whether and how the circle of representation has changed in the visual representation. The research combines photo data from the internet and interview data to explore the visual representation mechanism of TDI. Through both content and thematic analysis, the research finds that: (1) diverse sources result in differences and similarities between the projected and perceived images of the destination; (2) the circle of representation is still valid. The icons were photographed repeatedly due to the impacts of social context; (3) new iconic images emerged to satisfy tourists’ needs to construct meaningful experiences. The emerging images became a new component of the circle of representation. Applications for destination marketing are made accordingly.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism destination image
• visual representation
• circle of representation
• mixed method
• Hangzhou

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China [grant number 42071185], Ministry of Education Key Projects of Philosophy and Social Sciences Research [grant number 21JJDM004], and Jiangsu Office of Philosophy and Social Science [grant number 21GLD001].