Analysis of the projected image of tourism destinations on photographs: A literature review to prepare for the future

Abstract

Making the right impression is paramount to succeed in today’s very competitive market, where photographs have acquired a prominent role in doing so. The evaluation and analysis of destination image have been tackled mainly from the perspective of the tourists’ perceptions. However, the projected image of destinations has received limited attention in the literature and the topic has not yet been successfully operationalized. Moreover, existing literature on the projected image on photographs (PIP) is scattered and lacking of an integral approach. Thus, the aim of this article is to fill this gap by carrying a comprehensive literature review on the destination’s PIP, covering information sources analyzed, destinations included, number of pictures, time framework, methodology, and specially categorization (people, activities represented, and tourism context) and specific attributes used. As a result, this article provides researchers with a reference guide to understand the current situation of the research on this topic, context, methods, and focus of previous studies. Finally, it identifies trends and reflections on future research.