‘They sure do have a pretty colour palette!’: the problematic promotion of invasive species as tourism icons

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of Regional Tourism Organisations and list of regional/local Instagram accounts analysed (map source: Regional Tourism New Zealand). (Note: italicised names represent the accounts of local authorities with RTO functions; all others are RTO accounts).

Figure 2. Distribution of wild Russell lupin in New Zealand and the lower South Island (source: inaturalist.org).

Figure 3. De-identified screen-captured ‘exhibit’.

Table 1. Overview of Instagram accounts reviewed, and exhibits collected for further analysis.

Accountname	Organizationalcontext	No. of postsreviewed	No. of posts containingRussell lupin	Proportion of posts containingRussell lupin
nz_mackenzie	RTO	915	19	2.1%
destinationtekapo	RTO	312	31	9.9%
Selwyn.nz	RTO	116	0	0.0%
experiencemidcanterbury	RTO	359	1	0.3%
visithurunui	RTO	795	0	0.0%
venture_timaru_tourism	RTO	858	0	0.0%
waitakidistrictcouncil	Local authority with RTO function	680	0	0.0%
centralotagonz	RTO	741	2	0.3%
southland.nz	RTO	1376	0	0.0%
fiordland.nz	RTO	689	0	0.0%
queenstownnz	RTO	2225	17	0.8%
queenstownlakes	Local authority with RTO function	255	0	0.0%
lakewanakanz	RTO	3390	11	0.3%
westcoastnewzealand	RTO	1530	0	0.0%
docgovtnz	Department of Conservation	2892	0	0.0%
airnz	Air New Zealand	1630	2	0.1%
purenewzealand	Tourism New Zealand	1341	11	0.8%
		20,104	94	0.5%

Figure 4. Geolocation data for 94 posts containing Russell lupin (Note: no. in brackets = no. of posts per location; geolocation data not available for 4 posts) (Map source: Maptive).

Figure 5. Church of Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo, and Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve framed by Russell lupin.

Figure 6. Selfie culture and the Russell lupin.

Figure 7. Notification of invasive weed status of Russell lupin alongside iconic representation.