Picturing Denver: the co-construction of destination image on Instagram

Located on a plain sandwiched between the imposing Rocky Mountains, the city of Denver, Colorado in the United States is also referred to as the "Mile High City". This nickname, featured prominently in the city's marketing by destination management organizations (DMO's), already evokes a particular destination image (DI). The advent of web 2.0 has revolutionized how DI's are generated and shared as tourists can now upload their images to social media and co-create a destination image. This study examines the interactions and relations between DMO and tourismgenerated content (TGC) through the question: How is a destination image of Denver, Colorado co-created and conveyed on Instagram by both Destination Marketing Organizations and Tourist Generated Content, and how are potential differences between representation and experience of Denver reconciled? This study employed netnography to examine the co-creation and dissemination of online DI on Instagram. Both DMO and TGC content were examined to better understand the development of destination image through web 2.0 platforms and the rising influence of "prosumers". Roughly 400 posts were collected from Instagram which were subsequently thematically analyzed through a semiotic framework. The notion of "urban sophistication meets outdoor adventure", as quoted from a DMO post, outlines two distinct place narratives, who interact and intersect to form a holistic image of Denver, which underly the structure of the analysis and discussion of the results. A destination image of Denver is co-created on Instagram as both TGC and DMO posts contribute to the DI. The line between the two becomes blurred as DMO's increasingly utilize TGC posts to convey DI. As such, the role of DMO's shifts from actively to curating a DI that is negotiated by TGC. Differences between the destination image and embodied experience are reconciled through local citizens as they actively negate the positive nature of the DI as opposed to experience by addressing socio-economic, environmental, and practical issues.