Taking a selfie while on holiday abroad has become part of travel for many, but for some, turning the camera around to snap the perfect smiling photo is the ultimate.
A new study has revealed that taking selfies on a trip or at a special celebration can make tourists not want to visit the destination, according to Gate of research.
For example, when other people are searching for wedding venues or planning their next getaway, they’re more likely to be put off if they see a photo of someone else there, the study found.
The researchers concluded that the reason people find destinations less attractive when selfies are involved is because it makes viewers feel like the person in the photo is signaling their ownership of the place.
Zoe Y. Lu, lead author of the research paper and an adjunct 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 during a trip or a special celebration can make people not want to visit the destination.
“If my cousin saw a photo of my husband proposing to me in a particular national park, for example, he would be concerned that choosing that very spot to propose to his beloved would be perceived as a boring person with no sense of self,” she added.
The report details six separate studies, including an in-depth analysis of more than 14,000 posts from a major influencer and five “controlled experiments,” which found that taking selfies can “reduce viewers’ liking and preference for the location.”
In one experiment, Lu and his team asked 416 participants to look at Trail A and Trail B while imagining they were trying to choose a spot for their New Year’s walk.
They were more attracted to Trail A than Trail B because it was just a stand-alone image of the trail, with no other people on it.
“Our theory is that the hiker in the image is offering some sort of territorial signal,” Lu said.
The researchers concluded that the reason others find destinations less attractive when selfies are involved is because it makes viewers feel like the person in the photo is signaling their ownership of the place.
‘It tells our self-identity: “Someone else has been here, don’t try their hike, try a hike that looks like no one has done it.”
In another experiment, Lu and his team found that the rules didn’t apply when the situation wasn’t so personal.
Participants were asked to imagine they were someone’s wedding planner trying to choose the perfect venue.
In this case, participants did not care whether another couple was seen in the photo or not.
“Wedding planners don’t seek their own identity like their clients do,” Lu said.
But in another experiment, when they were asked to choose the wedding venue themselves, everything changed.
In this case, 53 percent of participants chose location A because the images did not show another couple getting married. However, if the image showed a couple getting married and not at location B, only 27 percent of participants chose the first option.
In another experiment, Lu and his team found that the rules didn’t apply when the situation wasn’t so personal.
While the study might make some think twice before taking a photo, Lu said it could also have an impact on online sellers.
“They may encourage past customers not to post selfies of special experiences if they want new customers to try those experiences at the same location, which seems counterintuitive, I know,” she said.
Now, even popular hotels and tourist destinations might consider changing this to try to attract more customers to book trips with them.
At the same time, influencers should be considerate when posing so as not to appear territorial.
Lu added that one exception might be if the person in the picture actually owns the place, but they would need to “acknowledge” it.
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