Photographic Images, Culture, and Perception in Tourism Advertising

Different cultural groups perceive photographic images of travel products and destinations differently. This creates a challenge for tourism marketers, who need to communicate specific messages to specific groups. In this paper, we describe group-specific perceptions of photographic images of travel destinations among university students in Canada and China. Although most educated travelers in their twenties seem to be motivated primarily by novelty seeking and the experience of the unfamiliar, the cultural background of the traveler largely determines what is considered novel or unfamiliar.