Attitudes Towards Selfie-taking While Wearing Local Traditional Dress

Abstract

The development of social media has changed the way in which tourists consume and communicate their tourism experiences. In particular, the "selfie" facilitates an evolving modern photo album, allowing tourists to share what they consider personally meaningful about their travel experiences. For many tourists, interaction and engagement with the traditional dress of tourism destinations forms an important part of their experience. The snapping of a selfie while in traditional dress may help a tourist portray the "other," to promote the exotic to their friends and family. As a relatively new phenomenon, little research has been conducted on the role of selfies in tourism, and tourists' attitudes towards taking selfies while wearing a destination's traditional dress. Therefore, this study aims to first, explore tourists' attitudes towards wearing a traditional dress of a tourism destination and secondly, to consider their attitude towards taking a selfie while wearing a destination's traditional dress. A survey of 438 Indonesian tourists found a variety of attitudinal responses, which were largely positive, towards the wearing of traditional dress. It includes dimensions of tribute, enjoyment/excitement, a negative opinion towards wearing a local traditional dress, and attraction. Furthermore, taking a selfie while wearing a local traditional dress contains dimensions of narcissism, a negative opinion towards selfies, privacy concerns, in-group behavior, impression management, and sharing.