For many people, taking a selfie while on holiday abroad is a regular part of travelling. But for some, getting the perfect smiling photo with the camera is the ultimate turn-off.
A new study has found that taking selfies while traveling or on a special occasion could put tourists off visiting the destination, according to Research Gate.
For example, the research shows that others who are looking for a wedding venue or planning their next trip are more likely to be turned off if they see a photo of someone else standing there.
Researchers concluded that people find destinations less attractive when selfies are taken because viewers feel that the person in the photo exudes ownership over the place.
Zoe Y. Lu, lead author of the research paper and an assistant professor of marketing at Tulane University, said, “We want to stand out by being a little bit different.”
According to a recent study by Research Gate, taking selfies while traveling or on a special occasion can make people want to avoid visiting the destination.
“For example, if my cousin saw a photo of my husband proposing to me in a certain national park, he would be afraid that he would be made to feel boring and lacking in self-esteem if he proposed to his loved one in that same place,” she added.
The report detailed six separate studies, including an in-depth analysis of more than 14,000 posts from a top influencer and five “controlled experiments.” All of the studies found that taking selfies “can reduce viewers’ liking and location bias.”
In one experiment, Lu and her team asked 416 participants to look at walking path A and path B while imagining themselves trying to choose a spot for their New Year’s walk.
They were more attracted to Path A than Path B because it was just a standalone image of the path, with no other images on it.
“Our theory is that the walker in the image is sending some kind of territorial signal,” Lu said.
Researchers concluded that the reason others find destinations less attractive when selfies are involved is because viewers feel that the person in the photo exudes ownership over the place.
“It says to our self-identity, ‘Someone else has been here, don’t try his walk, try a walk that no one else has ever taken.’”
In another experiment, Lu and her team found that the rules didn’t apply when the situation was less personal.
Participants had to imagine that they were the wedding planner of a wedding who had to choose the perfect location.
In this case, the participants did not care whether there was another couple in the photo or not.
“Wedding planners don’t strive for their own identity like their clients do,” Lu says.
But in another experiment, where they had to choose a wedding location themselves, everything changed.
In this case, 53 percent of participants chose location A because the photos did not show another couple getting married. However, if the photo showed a couple getting married, and not at location B, only 27 percent of participants chose the first option.
In another experiment, Lu and her team found that the rules didn’t apply when the situation wasn’t so personal
While the research may make some think twice before taking a photo, Lu says it could also have implications for online marketers.
“They could encourage existing customers not to post selfies of special experiences if they want new customers to try those experiences at the same location. That seems counterintuitive, but I know,” she said.
Today, even hotels and popular tourist destinations are considering turning this around in an effort to entice more customers to book travel with them.
At the same time, influencers need to be mindful of the location where they pose so that it doesn’t seem territorial.
Lu added that there could be an exception if the person in the image actually owns the place, but that would have to be “acknowledged.”