Share the Gaze: representation of destination image on the Chinese social platform WeChat Moments

ABSTRACT

This paper explores photos and texts posted by tourists on the Chinese social media networking site WeChat Moments, which is an important complementary data source when examining the representation of the destination image. The research applies Aggregated Maps and Social Semantic Networks to analyze the graphic and textual image of the tourist destination Zhangjiajie on WeChat Moments, as well as the relationship between the two forms. The findings are: (1) photos construct an image of the destination as a mountain area with natural scenery and artificial landscapes; (2) texts reflected a multilayer image with a core and subset; (3) photos and texts echoed each other and their differences contributed to an interactive interpretation. The similarities and differences between photos and texts stimulate a discussion about the internal logic of representation.

KEYWORDS:

• Graphic and textual representation
• tourism destination image
• social media
• WeChat Moments
• aggregated maps
• social semantic networks
• tourism marketing
• Asia–Pacific

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge with grateful thanks to LUO Yixiang, HU Zhuoyu, YANG Lin and YU Yuxin for their participation in this WeChat field investigation project

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Sun Yat-Sen University [40000-18821201]; UIUC-SYSU International Joint Laboratory of National Park Research (Zhangjiajie) [1511104-40000-71210136]; Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities, China [40000-31610122].