Skift Take
Will too much emphasis on the representation of a place on social media ruin the actual place itself? It's a future, that while shameful, is becoming easier to imagine.
Walk around Times Square or Hollywood Boulevard and it appears that travelers are spending as much time staring at their smartphones and flipping through Instagram filters as they are actually soaking up the sights around them.
According to a recent Chase Card Services survey, 97 percent of millennial travelers post on social networks while traveling. And photo-heavy social media platforms have become more popular than review sites for sharing experiences and destination details. There’s even a startup that tells travelers the best places to go to take photos in different cities.
While many cities have launched social media hashtag campaigns in hopes of turning tourists’ posts into crowdsourced content and a low-cost marketing plan, VisitDenmark has found a dummy-proof way to get tourists onboard and boost its destination profile.
The tourism board recently identified some of the most shared landmarks throughout the country, including a stretch of cliffs along the Danish island Mon, Egeskov Castle, and the town of Skagen. It then placed an actual sign in each of the destinations with a location-specific hashtag.
The images are being shared on a specific section of the Visit Denmark’s website as well as, of course, popping up into the streams of the travelers’ peers.
Below is a video showcasing Visit Denmark’s new initiative:
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Tags: denmark, social media
Photo credit: VisitDenmark places signs with hashtags at places of interest, making it easy for tourists to upload and share pictures from Danish destinations on social media. Visit Denmark / YouTube