THE ROLE OF PHOTOGRAPHIC TOURISM IN CONSTRUCTION OF AN EGYPT'S IMAGE AS A TOURIST DESTINATION

 

Rania Magdy Orabi

The High Institute Of Tourism & Hotels  In Alexandria (King Marriott Academy), Egypt

 

Abstract

Recently, Photography has become one of the most essential components that should consider before preparation for the trip. Most visitors prefer to take a set of the photo during their trips to document their tourist experience and transfer it through different social media. This phenomenon contributed to the emergence new term called "Visitor - Employed Photography" or "Volunteer - Employed Photography" (VEP). It is a technique which enables the visitor to build a visual database about the tourist destination through a set of photos. Therefore, the photos have become play a vital role in the construction of a Tourist Destination image and the destination-choice process. This paper focused on study and analysis set of photos captured by tourists during their tours in Egypt. In this context, This study used 3,600 photos posted on Flickr and Instagram for the period from January to December 2017, From a total of 34,200 images labelled Egypt in several languages. In order to determine the perceived image of Egypt as a tourist destination

Keywords: Photographic Tourism; Visitor-Employed Photography; Tourist destination image; Cliché photo

 

Introduction:

Photography is one of the main pillars of Online tourism marketing. Especially with technological innovations in the field of cameras, optics and mobiles, all of that contributed to make photography an integral part of the tourist experience (Gogoi, 2014). There is no doubt that the Emergence and Evolution of Social Networking Sites at the Beginning of the 21st Century like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Whatsapp in conjunction with the appearance of selfie phenomenon have also contributed to popularize the concept of ‘Photographic Tourism’ among the general people (Lo et al., 2011; Gogoi, 2014; Fatanti & Suyadnya, 2015)  Since that time, Many researchers have focused on analyzing the relationship between photography and tourism (Garrod, 2008; Donaire et al., 2014). In order to understand the crucial role of photographic tourism in constructing the image of a tourist destination (Hunter, 2008; Tudor, 2013).

 

Literature review:

1- Photographic Tourism

Definitely, The digital revolution has affected tourist behaviour during the last decade, particularly after the appearance of digital cameras which led to a notable increase in the number of photos. It is mainly due to tourists' behaviour that has adopted the habit of photo sharing as a social event on different social networking platforms (Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014). Most young adults are obsessed with social networking platforms besides the widespread use of "Selfie photo" had led to emerging new term called "Photographic Tourism" (Garrod, 2008; Domšić, 2009; Donaire et al., 2014; Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014).

Gogoi (2014: 111) defined Photographic tourism as “A form of special interest tourism, in which tourist visits a particular place with the primary aim of photographing subjects that are unique to him, The scope of photography may range from landscapes, portraits, architectures, culture, food and wildlife to even macro subjects”.

The definition noted above underline two important features of photographic tourism term, the first; Shed light on the main objective behind visiting a particular place, the second; Determine the most unique places (Gogoi, 2014). Both of them assumed that a tourist will not visit a destination only to photograph available places. But often visitors prefer to visit unique attractions in order to capture a set of photos to show the beautiful details of the destination and attract the admiration of all (Donaire et al., 2014; Gogoi, 2014).

The power of the concept of photographic tourism lies in their ability to show the invisible things, shed light on the unnoticed places and convert the photo to a tangible real world (Tarascio, 2015). Many marketers depended on photography as a good marketing tool in the tourism field to convey a message to the viewers efficiently and play a critical role in the tourist decision-making process. Therefore, the photograph has become the only marketing language understood in all over the world (Gali & Donaire, 2015). Basically, the visitors prefer to visit a destination which they saw it in the brochures, then they take the decision to visit it to capture a set of unique photos for themselves (Donaire et al., 2014).

Tussyadiah (2010) highlighted the nature of a complex relationship between tourism and photography through three basic stages before, during and after travelling. Before travelling, tourists use pictures to collect information about a tourist destination. While travelling, tourists capture photos in order to create their own memories. As soon as they return to their own homes, they are sharing personal photographs with family and friends to participate in their memories. Then, they uploading their photographs on social media websites in order to exchange information about the tourist experience (Garlick, 2002; Fatanti & Suyadnya, 2015; Tarascio, 2015).

Jenkins (2003) presents another view about the relationship between tourism and photography called the circle of representations. Many tourist destinations use photographs on their brochures to promote their tourism products and attract tourists (Coghlan & Prideaux, 2008). In this context, Tourists also use photographs as a crucial tool for a comparison between tourist destinations in order to determine an optimal destination and take travel decision-making (Dwityas & Briandana, 2017; Kaewnopparat, 2017).

On the other hand, Human (1998) claimed that the relationship between photography and tourism as ambivalent. Although, Many tourist destinations have a strong identity full of history, culture and natural attractions, However, photography selectively extracts from these attractions (Feighery, 2009). This distorts the identity of place and people’s perception of tourism destination becomes very limited as a result of stereotypes of tourist photographs are associated with particular places (Jenkins, 2003; Domšić, 2009; Virdee, 2017).

According to the noted above about the nature relationship between Tourism and Photography can abbreviate under three main points as shown in the following: (Gogoi, 2014).

•                Photography as an integral part of the tourist experience.

•                Photography as a mean for helping to take tourists' decision.

•                Photography as a tool for creating Tourism Destination Image.

Thus, the relationship between tourism and photography can be measured by looking at the forecasted expenditure on photographic equipment. According to Palmer and Lester study (2005), the Official Statistics indicated that in the UK £2,366 m were spent on photography equipment in 2003, and a large part of this demand on photographic equipment is related to tourism.

Most previous studies highlighted the main motivations behind taking some photographs during the trip. According to Markwell’s study (1997) referred to 35% sample of photographs were taken to capture the most scenic landscapes, while 42% sample of photographs according to Griffone and Weiler’s study (1997). On the other hand, 24% of Family and friends are capturing their photographs to produce personal narratives and memories (Markwell, 1997) and 37% according to Griffone and Weiler’s study (1997). Furthermore, Markwell (1997) has shown that photography helps to shape social interactions between tourists on the tour group in order to form a group identity (Coghlan & Prieaux, 2008).

 

2- Visitor-Employed Photography (VEP)

Several authors have focused on the features of photographic tourism in the most literature studies and described it as an activity depends on tourists gathering at specific places in order to capture the same photographs (Palmer and Lester, 2005). While other researchers claimed that there are two kinds of photographic tourist one of them as an active amateur or as a performer. Garlick (2002) presented another view that photographic tourism can be viewed as creative work, whereas, Albers and James (1988) emphasized that tourists re-produce pictures they have seen during their trips. In this context, Gogoi (2014:111) defined photographic tourist as “a person who travels with the prime objective of photographing something unique".

In fact, Most of the photographic tourism studies relied heavily on the visitor employed photography (VEP) technique, whereby the researcher depends on a set of photographs captured by tourists during their trip (Gou & Shibata, 2017). Initially, The mainstream has been to use the photos taken by professional photographers for the purposes of promoting the destination, rather than photographs taken by the tourists themselves (Balomenou & Garrod, 2014). This technique allows tourist to capture a set of snapshots in order to show and present their personal view about the tourist destination. Since then, the (VEP) technique has become a tool for researchers to understand the perceived image of a tourist destination (Gou & Shibata, 2017).

Even today, There are various concepts associated with visitor-employed photograph concept which known also as volunteer-employed photography (e.g. Garrod, 2014), self-directed photography (e.g. Dakin, 2003) and resident-employed photography (e.g. Stedman et al., 2004) The concept differs depending upon the case in which it is applied. But in all cases, the technique includes the use of photography by people volunteering to provide a set of photographs to researchers. According to this paper, The Appropriate term to apply is ‘visitor- employed photography’ because it employs photographs that have been taken by tourists themselves (Garrod, 2007)

Visitor-employed photography (VEP) is a data collection technique based on photographs that were taken by visitors during the trip (Gali & Donaire, 2015). On the other hand, Many researchers depended on distributing cameras to participants to capture particular scenes which are appropriate to the nature of the study (MacKay & Couldwell, 2004). But after the emergence and evolution of camera phones and digital cameras, This process has become more accessible as a scientific research tool (MacKay & Couldwell, 2004). This visual data can be analyzed by using different quantitative and qualitative methods in order to apply the research objectives (Balomenou & Garrod, 2014).

More recently, This technique has become widely spread in many literatures to analyze the perceived image of a tourist destination (Gou & Shibata, 2017). Therefore, This study seeks to clarify the possibility of analyzing a set of photographs of Egypt as a tourist destination that shared on the social networks like Flickr and Instagram as a most popular photo sharing applications to understand how tourist images are formed and reproduced.

 

3-Tourist destination image:

Globally, Most tourism destinations depend on their tourism image as a standard for their success in the tourist market (Lai & Li, 2015). Therefore, Destination image has received much attention in many tourism studies that have mainly shed light on the analysis of perceived image by the tourist (Garrod, 2008). In a review of literature studies published through 1973-2000 estimated about 143 articles in this field (Beerli & Martin, 2004). Hunt (1975) was the first researcher who emphasized the importance of the “Destination Image” to increase tourism demand to certain destinations.

Tourist destination image has become more influential in the tourists’ future intentions to visit the destination. Tourists are commonly based on the tourist destination image which has formed by marketers when selecting their favourite destination (Coshall, 2000). They also depend on other different sources. For instance, past experiences, word of mouth and pictorial elements that have photographed by other tourists (Bigne, 2001; Kim & Richardson, 2003). For this reason, Tourism managers and DMOs realized the significance of the destination image’s concept as an important factor in destination Marketing (Stepchenkova & Li, 2012).

In marketing studies, the Destination image has been defined as “consumer perception of a product, institution, brand, company or person, which may or may not correspond to reality” (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003: 43; Andreu et al., 2000: 49). In terms of tourism studies, The tourist destination image still a vague concept because, there are many researchers gave various meanings about the term of the destination image (Alcañiz et al., 2003; Tudor, 2013) Thus, not surprisingly, the definition remains ill-defined and complex as shown in the following table.

 

Table.1 Definitions of the destination image

 

Source: Author.

Most academic studies had interested in analyzing the tourist destination image and how it's forming. Especially, The significance of the visual representation of destinations and their role in creating the tourist image (Baloglu, & McCleary, 1999; Garrod, 2009). The visual representation of the destination seeks to convert the unknown into reality. In the past, this technique depending on a set of photographs which have captured by professional photographers as pictorial elements using in tourism marketing. But now, it's depending on a set of photographs that are taken by tourists themselves as a part of their tourism experience (Gali & Donaire, 2015).

Gunn (1989) has developed the image formation process through a distinction between two different phases of the image formation process: organic and induced images. He noted to the Organic image as an image that is created by non-commercial sources such as, different advertising in the mass media and friends’ and family’ experiences (Matlovičová & Kolesárová, 2012). In contrast, He indicated to induce image as an image generated by marketers. For instance, different forms of Advertisement and information that are obtained from travel agents and tour operators that they are seeking to attract tourists to certain destinations (Matlovičová & Kolesárová, 2012).

Mostly, The visitor prefers to see photos and personal experiences of other tourists that are sharing their own photos on the most famous photo-sharing platforms like Flickr, Instagram, Picasa and others to identify the tourist destination (Fatanti & Suyadnya, 2015; Dwityas & Briandana, 2017). In this regards, The tourist destination image must correspond closely to the actual characteristics of the place. Otherwise, The Tourists will not be satisfied thus they will not recommend the destination to others, and will not revisit the destination in the future (Fatanti & Suyadnya, 2015).

Urry (1990) referred to the Circle Representations of tourism photographs as shown in Figure 1, whereby tourists act as consumers of images which captured by other tourists and as producers of the images that will be consumed by potential tourists in the future. For that reason, The tourist has become a part of the mechanism of tourist image formation of destination (Gali & Donaire, 2015; Tarascio, G. 2015).

Figure.1: Tthe Circle Representations of Photographic Tourism

The previous figure has explained the concept of the circle representations of photographic tourism through shedding light on the nature of the relationship between the phenomenon of consumption and production of photographs by tourists. This process shows the significant role of the tourists as marketers for their tourist experience or as consumers to set of photos belong to other tourists.

This study investigates the photographs that have taken by tourists as producers to tourist photos in order to determine their perceived image of Egypt as a tourist destination. Specifically, This study aims to analyze a huge number of photographs shared by tourists on the most fame photo-sharing platforms like Flickr and Instagram. So, This study has depended on a new method to analyze the content called "a visual content analysis".

 

4.    Study method:

This study was based on tourist photographs that have captured by tourists during their tour in Egypt in order to analyze the perceived image of Egypt as a tourist destination. Therefore, This study seeks to analyze a set of photographs of Egypt as a tourist destination such as religious and Archeological sites, Beaches and landscapes which posted on Flickr and Instagram. The photos often have their own description below the photo and it also allows for the public and members to see and comment on it.

 

The current methodology followed three main stages:

1.     Selecting a representative sample of photographs of Egypt that are taken by tourists and posted it on Flickr and Instagram.

2.     Classifying these Photos into three items.

3.     Obtaining statistical results for each item.

This study used 3.600 photos posted on Flickr and Instagram for the period from January to December 2017, From a total of 34,200 images labelled “مصر” (by Arabic speakers), “Egypt” (by English speakers), “Ägypten” (by German speakers), “Єгипет” (by Ukrainian speakers), "埃及" (by Chinese speakers), "Egitto" (by Italian speakers), and "מצרים" (by Hebrew speakers). This research selected 300 images randomly per month during 2017, labelled "Egypt" in different languages that noted above. In fact, This study determined the Selected languages according to data "The most important tourist markets" released by the Ministry of tourism in Egypt 2017.

Usually, When the researchers use the Visitor-Employed Photography technique (VEP) in their researches, They distribute cameras to participants (visitors) to take a set of photos reflecting their own perceived image of the destination. Nevertheless, This research used the Online-Visitor Employed Photography technique (OVEP) to build a visual database to determine the tourist destination image of Egypt.

According to (OVEP) technique, This research depended on specify keywords that noted above for gathering a visual database from the tourists that have posted it on Flickr and Instagram platforms. This method characterized by two features: Firstly, The cost is low. Secondly, a huge number of photos that have available online. Therefore, The methodology of the current study based on analyzing the tourist destination image through audience responses to photos, such as comments and likes. In particular, this study used photos that contain tangible tourist objects in the destination like famous tourist places To avoid the error in the selection of photos. Also, The study excluded the photos that not taken by tourists, depending on the information that has provided by Flickr and Instagram users on their personal account To distinguish between the tourists and the local people.

 

This Study Classified The Images Into Three Categories As Shown As Follows:

1.     Types of tourists, according to nationality: Germany, Ukraine, Israel, China, UK, USA, Italia and Arab countries.

2.     Types of tourism: Religious tourism, Heritage tourism, Cultural tourism, Recreation tourism, Culinary tourism and Medical tourism.

3.     What are the most tourist landscapes photographed by Tourists?

4.     What are the most cliché photos photographed by Tourists?

5.     The Presence of people in photographs, the study divided the people into four groups: Tourists, local residents, both of them or none.

In this regard, The research determined a set of photos for each tourist group, according to the distribution of tourist nationalities who visited Egypt in 2017. Data processing in this study also focused on descriptive statistics to obtain percentages for each category mentioned earlier. Data analysis was conducted using (OVEP) technique, whereby this method has produced reliable results by many different authors, such as Pritchard and Morgan (1995), Galı and Donaire (2005), Govers and Go (2005) and Choi, Letho, and Morrison (2007).

As seen in the following table that is showing the top ten tourist markets in Egypt 2017. Germany hit a record high of tourist arrivals in Egypt with a total of 1.225.000 tourists. Over the five last years, Russia left the competition in the ranking of the Top ten tourist markets in Egypt after the Russian plane bombing above the northern Sinai in 2015.

 

 

Table. 2: Top ten tourist markets in Egypt 2017

Countries	Tourist arrivals
Germany	1.225.000
Ukraine	797.000
Saud of Arabia	669.000
Sudan	347.000
Libya	336.000
UK	316.000
China	287.000
Italy	255.000
Israel	234.000
USA	226.000
Total	4.692.000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Source: (The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, 2018)

 

According to data released by The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, Arab countries have ranked the third, fourth and fifth in the number of tourist arrivals to Egypt 2017. Ukraine remains 2nd  in terms of arrivals, While  The United Kingdom moved down to 6th position, China climbed a place to 7th position, Italy climbed to 8th position,  Isreal occupied the 9th place and The USA moved down to the last place in the ranking.

 

5- Egypt’s Image as a global tourist destination

In order to determine Egypt’s Image as a tourist destination for each tourist market.The methodology of the current study based on analyzing the photos that are taken by tourists and shared them on Flickr and Instagram platforms.These photos supported by a set of information which helps in determining the nationality of tourists and the perceived image of Egypt as a tourist destination for each nationality as mentioned in the table (3).

Table. 3: Egypt’s Image as a Tourist Destination

Countries	Frequency	Tourist Destination Image	%
Germany	389/450	Recreation tourism	86%
Arab countries	392/450	Urban and Religion tourism	87%
Ukraine	387/450	Culture tourism	86%
Israel	415/450	Recreation tourism	92%
UK	370/450	Culture tourism	82%
USA	305/450	Culture tourism	84%
China	275/450	Culture tourism	76%
Italy	345/450	Culture tourism	95%
Total	2878/3600

Source : (The Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), 2018)

From the photo analysis, we observe that German tourists preferred The pattern of Recreational tourism through visiting Red Sea destinations such as Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Taba. Out of the 389 photos analyzed, There are 450 photos belong to Recreational tourism pattern with a percentage of (86%). Similarly, Israeli tourists prefer to visit Taba destination due to the geographical proximity in order to participate in many recreational activities with a percentage of (92%).

On the other hand, The Arab tourists prefer Urban tourism through visiting the old areas of Cairo, For Example, Al-Muizz El-Din Allah Street, Khan El-Khalili and Old Cairo (Coptic Cairo). Urban Tourism has shown in 392 photos Out of the 450 photos belong to Arab tourists (87%). Besides, The other countries prefer to visit various cultural and archaeological sites like the pyramids, Egyptian Museum, Ibn Tulun Mosque and etc. As shown in the previous table.

At the end of the visual analysis of photos, The most photographed destinations in Egypt are Cultural places, which represented in 1682 from 3600 photos (47%), Recreational destinations are represented (22%), followed by urban destinations (11%) and all other tourist destinations which belong to religion and Nature tourism are represented (20%).

6- The Most Photographed Tourist Destinations in Egypt

To determine which are the most photographed tourist destinations in Egypt in 2017, we used the visual analysis method of many photos taken by tourists from different nationalities who mentioned in the previous table. In terms of Tourist Attractions, we classified them according to the pattern of tourism and their geographical distribution in the cities in order to know which one of them has most Repetitive photos.

Table. 4: The Most Photographed Culture Destinations

Culture destinations
Tourist destination	Frequency	Valid per cent
Cairo
Sphinx and Pyramids of Giza	344	20%
Egyptian Museum	90	5%
Mohamed Ali Citadel	23	1%
Bab Zuweila	17	1%
Sharm el-Sheikh
Salah El Din Castle on Pharaoh's Island	31	2%
Hurghada
Bedouin Dinner Tours	10	1%
Luxor
Luxor's Karnak Temple	143	7%
Valley of the Kings	32	2%
Luxor Temple	17	1%
Luxor Museum	34	2%
Medinet Habu	18	1%
Temple of Deir al-Bahri	130	7%
Abu Simbel	118	7%
Tombs of the Nobles	10	1%
Colossi of Memnon	91	5%
Valley of the Queens	32	2%
Mummification Museum	12	1%
Aswan
Nubia Museum	31	2%
Philae Temple	72	4%
Unfinished Obelisk	33	2%
Aswan High Dam	16	1%
Tombs of the Nobles	10	1%
Kalabsha	34	2%
Nubian village	102	6%
Siwa Oasis
Mud-Brick Houses “Shali”	31	2%
Temple of the Oracle of Amun	32	2%
Gebel al-Mawta	45	3%
Tomb of Mesu-Isis	13	1%
House of Siwa Museum	10	1%
Alexandria
Bibliotheca Alexandrina	31	2%
Qaitbey Citadel	38	2%
Kom el-Dikka	10	1%
Catacombs of Kom El-Shuqqafa	12	1%
Pompey's Pillar	10	1%
Total	1682	100%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Author

 

The most photographed places in Egypt are the Pyramids of Giza (344 photos) with a percentage of (20%). on the second place  Luxor's Karnak Temple (8%), Temple of Deir al-Bahri and Abu Simbel (7%) for both of them, Nubian village (6%), followed by Egyptian Museum and Colossi of Memnon (5%).

It is interesting that most of the tourists were careful to take cliché photos at extreme angles to get an unusual shot depending on a set of previous photos which taken by other tourists in the Same angles.

                                                       Figure. 2 Cliché photo called                                                                                                       Figure. 3 Cliché photo called

                                                        "Kissing The Sphinx”                                                                                                          “Holding The Pyramids Of Giza”

                                                               Figure. 4 Cliché photo                                                                                                             Figure. 5 Cliché photo called

                                                              “Colossi Of Memnon”                                                                                                 “The Hall Of Columns (Luxor's Karnak)”

 

The previous photos showed that Most of the foreign tourists in Egypt seeking to take  Cliché photos. For example, Cliché photo called "kissing the Sphinx", “Holding the Pyramids of Giza”, “The Hall of Columns (Luxor's Karnak)”, and "Colossi of Memnon".

 

Table. 5: The Most Photographed Recreational Destinations

Recreation destinations
Tourist destination	Frequency	Valid per cent
Cairo
Al-Azhar Park	31	4%
Khan el-Khalili and  Al-Muizz El-Din Allah Street	166	21%
Sharm el-Sheikh
Naama Bay	75	9%
Jolanda Reef	41	5%
Ras Um Sid Beach and Reef	32	4%
Shark's Bay	19	2%
Sharm Old Market	32	4%
Safari (Sahara)	75	9%
Wishwashi Canyon (Taba)	13	2%
Taba
Fjord Bay	105	13%
Hurghada
Giftun Islands	58	8%
Abu Nuhas Shipwreck Sites	20	2%
Luxor
Banana Island	15	2%
Aswan
Souq Area	33	4%
Siwa Oasis
Great Sand Sea Safari	64	8%
Taghaghien Touristic Island	25	3%
Total	804	100%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Author

According to Previous table, Khan El-Khalili and Al-Muizz El-Din Allah Street have ranked at the top of the table as the most photographed recreational places in Egypt with a percentage of (21%), Fjord Bay (Taba) with a percentage of (13%), followed by Safari (Sharm el Sheikh) with a percentage of (9%).

                                                 Figure. 6 Cliché photo called                                                                                                                  Figure. 7 Cliché photo  called 

                                                  “Khan el Khalili Bazaar”                                                                                                                                  “Fjord Bay”

Egyptian Handicrafts are popular items purchased by foreign tourists as souvenirs which brings a unique addition to their tourism experience. One of the most popular tourist markets in Egypt is “Khan El Khalili Bazaar” which visiting by many tourists to buy touristy Handicrafts and take cliché photos as shown in the previous Figure.6. The most photographed tourist attraction in Taba is The Fjord Bay with a percentage of  (13%) particularly at the top of the mountain as shown in Figure 7.

Table. 6: The Most Photographed Urban & Religion Destinations

Religion Destinations
Tourist destination	Frequency	Valid per cent
Cairo
Al-Azhar Mosque	42	11%
Hanging Church	72	18%
Sultan Hassan Mosque	32	8%
Ibn Tulun Mosque	38	9%
Mosque of Al-Hakim	28	8%
Sharm el-Sheikh
St. Catherine's Monastery	35	9%
El Sahaba Mosque	95	24%
Urban destinations
Old Cairo streets	50	13%
Total	392	100%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Author

As mentioned above, It is interesting that more than three-quarters of the photos relate to the religion destinations, While a quarter is related to non-specific urban destinations. There are 95 photos refer to the gate of the El Sahaba Mosque in Sharm El Sheikh city and 72 photos at the entrance of hanging Church in old Cairo as shown in figures (7 & 8).

 

                                                               Figure.8 Cliché photo called                                                                                                             Figure.9 Cliché photo called

                                                       “At the Gate of El Sahaba Mosque”                                                                                           “At the Entrance of Hanging Church”

Most of the photos that were shown above focused on the tourist destination more than people. We observed that most of the tourists when they are capturing their photos, they do not rely on showing their faces in order to focus on the Touristic value of destination as shown above in figure. 8.

 

7- The Rate of People Present in Photographs:

 

Several studies have focused on the analysis of the people present in photographs and classified them into subcategories (Nikjoo & Bakhshi, 2019). In this study, we divided the photographs into four subgroups: Tourists, local residents, both of them or none as shown in the following Figure. 10.

Figure.10 The Rate of People Presence In Photographs

Based on previous classified categories, Tourists are present in 2398 photos (66%) in order to document their own tourism experience, followed by the local people are represented in (17%) of all photos, especially in heritage areas, while (7%) of all photos included tourists and local residents, In only (10%) of all photos have focused to show the tourist destination only.

 

Conclusions:

This study highlighted the importance of the visual representation of places and its role in creating the tourist destination image which becomes like a standard to measure their global success. Recently, Tourism and photography have become two sides of the same coin, especially after the appearance of digital cameras and smartphone, which led to a notable increase in the number of Digital photos in tourist destinations. It is mainly due to tourists' behavior which has adopted the habit of sharing their private photos online with their own small community to become a social event on social networking sites. In facts, the widespread use of photos on the social networks had led to an emerging new term called “Photographic Tourism”.

This paper comes to explore the crucial role of photographic tourism in the construction of Egypt's tourist Image. Therefore, This study investigates the photographs that have taken by arrivals tourists as content producers who called "Visitor-Employed Photography" in order to build a visual database to determine the perceived image of Egypt as a Global tourist Destination.

At the end of the visual analysis of 2880 photos, The results showed that Tourists were careful about the presence present in 2398 photos (66%) in order to document their tourism experience in Egypt. The most photographed destinations in Egypt are Cultural places, which represented in 1682 from 3600 photos (47%) and the most photographed cultural places are the Pyramids of Giza (344 photos) with a percentage of (20%). It is mainly due to the Cliché photo phenomena, which many of the tourists were careful to take it in Egypt. Globally, The most famous cliché photos are "kissing the Sphinx" and “Holding the Pyramids of Giza" as noted earlier that Egypt is known as a cultural destination.

 

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