Destination image representation on the web: Content analysis of Macau travel related websites

This study attempted to identify the image representations of Macau on the Internet by analyzing the contents of a variety of web information sources—Macau official tourism website, tour operators and travel agents’ websites, online travel magazine and guide websites, and online travel “blogs.” Both qualitative (text mining and expert judgment) and quantitative approaches (correspondence analysis) were used to content-analyze the narrative and visual information on the sampled websites. The results showed that the image of Macau projected online varies by the different online information sources. These variations could largely be explained by the different communication objectives and targeted audiences of the different web information sources. This study underscores the importance of understanding the multiplicity of destination image representations on the web and the challenges of managing and delivering the desired image of a destination online.