Journal
JOURNAL OF TRAVEL RESEARCH
Volume 60, Issue 1, Pages 31-46Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0047287519895125
Keywords
aesthetics; online photography; social media; user-generated content; review sites
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This research investigates the impact of professional and amateur photograph aesthetics on the visual appeal of destinations and tourists' booking intentions. Results show that despite the unique beauty in amateur aesthetics, photos with professional aesthetics are more appealing for tourists to book.
Tourists searching for information about destinations on online review sites are concurrently exposed to two different photograph aesthetics, professional (produced by destination managers) and amateur (generated by travelers). While the former is glossy and sharp, the latter is often grainy and overexposed. Although aesthetics are important factors in tourist decision making, the effects of the exposure to both types of photograph aesthetics remain largely unexamined. This research investigates how both types of aesthetics, either singularly or in combination, affect a destination's visual appeal and tourists' booking intentions through four controlled experiments (N = 1,282). Our results show that despite the messy beauty in amateur aesthetics, photos with professional aesthetics make a depicted destination appear more visually appealing, ultimately driving booking intentions. However, the negative effects of amateur aesthetics are mitigated when (1) viewed by risk-averse tourists, (2) presented alongside positive reviews, and (3) accompanied by a greater number of professional photos.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available