Abstract
A number of factors contribute to establishing and developing the image of a destination, and these can be perceived as more or less organic (indicating a greater sense of authenticity), or instead rather manufactured or deliberately “designed”. Through innovative approaches to promoting Sweden – via campaigns such as Call a Swede, Sweden on AirBnB, and Sweden (not Switzerland), in addition to handing over the official X account (previously Twitter) to regular citizens – a welcoming and relatively authentic and well-respected destination brand has been built over time. While these campaigns, and the work by official institutes and tourist boards (such as DMOs) are important, the image of a destination is also largely shaped and influenced by media discourse, political agendas, and various conversations between tourists – which are increasingly international both in nature and reach. This paper explores representations of a specific type of (tourist) experience: local ice hockey and football events in Stockholm, and predominantly football derbies. The paper takes the view that YouTube is an important platform for contemporary travel communication and seeks to understand how authentic sport event tourism experiences are both communicated and consumed – through analysing the content of the videos thematically, as well as the comments sections below (where local fans often comment too, thus “gazing” at themselves). It is hoped that the paper will contribute to the growing field of literature around travel and social media representations, interlinking themes such as destination branding, authenticity and sport tourism.
Presenters
Henrik LindenSenior Lecturer, Royal Docks School of Business and Law, University of East London, London, City of, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Critical Issues in Tourism and Leisure Studies
KEYWORDS
Representation, Authenticity, Destination Branding, Social Media, Sport Tourism, Event Tourism
