Projected and perceived destination image of the Lake Lucerne Region

Tourists play an important role in shaping the destination image by posting their experiences on visual and audio-visual channels. Thus, it is increasingly important for a successful destination marketing strategy that destination managers know how their destination is perceived and whether this is aligned with the image they project. This comparative content analysis evaluates the potential gap between the projected and perceived destination image for the Lake Lucerne Region in Switzerland on Instagram.

From a database of over 10,000 posts, this study takes a closer look at 300 randomly selected user-generated picture posts and a corresponding number of picture posts from four destination management organisations using a classification system of 27 attribute categories to analyse the content. The results show that tourists and tourism organisations use similar attributes to depict the destination image. The results shed light on the coexistence of categories in visual representations and highlight the importance of understanding both projected and perceived destination images and how they align.