Using social media images and text to examine how tourists view and value the highest mountain in Australia

BARROS, AGUSTINA; WALDEN-SCHREINER, CHELSEY; PICKERING, CATHERINE; ROSSI, SEBASTIAN DARIO

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism

Elsevier Ltd

Año: 2019 vol. 29

2213-0780

Social media is an emerging source of data to address questions such as how do tourist view and value destinations? This research compared image content and text from Flickr posted by tourists visiting the alpine area around the highest mountain in Australia, in Kosciuszko National Park, to assess seasonal preferences for tourism (i.e., facilities and activities) and nature (i.e., landscapes, flora and fauna). In warmer months when access is easier and the alpine area receives more than 100,000 visitors, tourists´ images focused on landscapes (54%) or biodiversity (50%), with fewer images including tourists (23%), mainly hiking (18%). Images were often labelled by the name of the mountain and Park. In contrast, during colder months when access is limited and approximately 400 people visit the alpine area, images still included landscapes (50%) though were also more likely to depict recreation activities (37%), including skiing (8.8%), nearly always showing snow (82%) and using tags such as ?snow?, ?ski? and ?Snowy Mountains?. Images of plants tended to show flowering herbs (7.3%) when warm or snowgums when cold (11.4%), while lakes (6.8%), creeks (4.2%) and animals (2.4%) were uncommon in images. Seasonal differences in visitor views and preferences of an area have implications for tourism, conservation and management including better understanding what may attract visitors. Challenges with coding images and text and the benefits and limitations of this novel data source in comparison to onsite surveys are considered.