ABSTRACT
A picture’s color characteristics make it possible to captivate the potential tourist with a unique visual experience in advance of their visit and consequently would help build a competitive advantage for a destination. In this case, the role of online media has become as important for tourism as DMOs. Customers no longer buy only “products” but the experiences and emotions associated with them. Pictures draw significant amounts of attention and a picture’s color characteristics are critical in maintaining interest through emotional connections.
Due to the importance of a picture’s color characteristics on websites, this chapter uses an automated approach to explore the hue, saturation and luminance of pictures on UK DMO websites, in order to shape the UK’s e-tourism experience. Results show that most pictures are neutral but the amount of negatively perceived pictures is very high. It was found that the overall visual e-tourism experience can be improved with only small post-processing changes, with a minimal danger of distorting reality. These small changes concerning the pictures’ colors make it possible to captivate the potential tourist with a unique visual experience in advance and consequently would help build a competitive advantage for a destination.
