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Visual representations of cultural World Heritage sites in promotion of Small Island Developing States: The case of the Caribbean Islands of Antigua & Barbuda and Barbados
Dalarna University, School of Culture and Society.
2021 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (One Year)), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Visual representations are the first impressions potential customers have of a destination and therefore should reflect the diverse tourism product a destination has to offer, but are mostly simplified for promotion. This is a problem especially for destinations depending on tourism, as in this paper the Caribbean islands. The main association of the Caribbean is the paradisiac, tropical image, which features beautiful white sandy beaches with palm trees, making them easily substitutable with each other due to for example natural disasters. Hence, the need for a differentiated tourism product is arising, where the distinct culture and World Heritage sites (WHS) might be a way forward. For this, the actual image needs to be known.The usage of social media in marketing is a must nowadays, but existing research on social media is mostly customer-centred and on the still newly platform Instagram limited. Due to this, the paper aims to determine how the Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) of the Caribbean islands Antigua & Barbuda (A&B) and Barbados are promoting the destination to potential tourists via images and which role their cultural WHS have. A qualitative approach is used, represented via the case studies and content analysis of the DMOs posts on their Instagram channel. The data framework used is the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 and approximately one year to March 2021 whereas systematic random sampling was used to determine the sample.The findings illustrate that the paradisiac image is the main one promoted by A&Bs DMO. Although they have diverse aspired niche markets, only wellness- and sports tourism could be identified. Additionally, they are showing a service-oriented destination due to promoting accommodations and restaurants. A&B is featuring their cultural heritage to a far less amount than the paradise image. Even though, they are presenting their intangible heritage for example food & beverage, close to no indicator for promotion of tangible heritage and WHS could be found. In contrast, Barbados is presenting the tropical image as well, but focuses more on the domestic fauna and flora, while highlighting activities and attractions connected to it. The island displays all cultural aspects and even uses storytelling to present the history of the island and the WHS, though they could present more too.This thesis contributes to finding out how the DMOs of the islands are picturing themselves. They, the government and also the visitors need to be made aware of the problems resulting from a certain image and that heritage is an important part of the history of humanity, needing to be acknowledged by all parties. This paper gives an insight into this.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021.
Keywords [en]
Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, World Heritage Sites, Representations, Social Media
National Category
Other Social Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-37724OAI: oai:DiVA.org:du-37724DiVA, id: diva2:1580133
Subject / course
Tourism Studies
Available from: 2021-07-13 Created: 2021-07-13

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • chicago-author-date
  • chicago-note-bibliography
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf