Art Moves In Self Organizing Social Media: Virtual Dynamics Impact Tourism Reality

The "tourist gaze" has been in constant transformation and so has its mediatized representations spanning from the picture postcard to the virtual picture posted on social media (SoMe) platforms. In the digital society users of SoMe form a feedback-loop breaking the glass ceiling of destination marketing tactics. Virtual dynamics partly shift control from tourist managers to tourists, at times negatively with divergent unintended outcomes. This behaviour has occasionally resulted in viral effects jolting sustainability schemes for tourist destinations. Therefore, we first present an overview of the general challenge that SoMe poses for the tourist industry sometimes leading to environmental and economic degradation with global viral effects. Secondly, online discourse is examined through applying visual content analysis to images posted on the photo-sharing social networking service lnstagram. This analysis exemplifies the self-organizing dynamics in the form of viral effects and points to circular causality impacting tourism. Subsequently, strategic public art is presented as a possibility to redirect tourist flows playing on sensory attraction and engaged experience. This multidisciplinary paper suggests innovative ways for the industry and how they can possibly react to the unplanned outcomes, e.g. using art as a tool which may influence both viral effects as well as tourist's behaviour for more sustainable tourism development. Public art installations are a long decision-making process permanent structures that will affect a destination in the long term or even define it for the future. We propose that art can be utilized by tourist managers to redirect flows and/or stabilize a crisis, even in the short-term temporary. The paper hints to art as an attractor for visitors and locals to enjoy together as a cultural exchange. The paper targets the tourist industry, especially those engaged in tourism management and marketing, with alternative solutions to the unforeseen increase in the number of visitors due to user-generated content on SoMe.