| Author: | Park, Eerang |
| Title: | Color space analysis on tourism photography : comparisons of destination-presented color and tourist-captured color |
| Degree: | DHTM |
| Year: | 2013 |
| Subject: | Tourism -- Social aspects -- China -- Hong Kong. Tourism -- Psychological aspects -- China -- Hong Kong. Visual communication -- Research. Visual perception -- Research. Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | School of Hotel and Tourism Management |
| Pages: | x, 177 p. : col. ill. ; 30 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Color, as a silent language of marketing communication, effectively delivers perceptual information and induces emotional responses. A destination substantially shows color in photographs; thus, the color of a destination, transformed from the physical, social environment to a frame of promoted photography, infers the chromatic quality of a place to tourists. On the other hand, the tourists' actual experience of the destination color may or may not be the same, because promoted photographic images tend to be controlled so that the colors of promoted photographs are likely to be unrealistically ideal. The importance of visuality in tourism has increased the number of studies that situate photography into the discourses of visual images. However, the majority of studies remain in qualitative research. Due to the quantifiable characteristic of color, it is possible to analyze a photograph in a quantitative manner. This approach is in contrast to the existing research on tourism photography, which has been conducted mainly by a qualitative approach that pays attention to objects in a photograph. The purpose of this study is to propose and test the feasibility of a quantitative analysis of photography through colors that represent a tourist destination. To achieve this purpose, this study compares quantifying colors of photographs taken by a destination management organization (DMO) and by tourists in the case of Hong Kong, and it answers the research question: How are destination colors promoted by a DMO in destination photographs similar to those captured in tourists' photographs? The histogram-based color-analysis method generates findings of not only different color distributions over attractions and cultural objects of Hong Kong but also unique color presentations from a DMO and tourists. A color similarity examination generates a quantified degree of similarity between photographic images, and it proves that the promotional color of the DMO is not consistent with the color that tourists captured. Colors of Hong Kong presented by the DMO express more vivid and saturated tones than those captured by tourists. Color differences are salient in the photography of "must-visit" places and outdoor images involving different weather conditions. Those photographs presented by the DMO show dramatic, deep color tones and a clear contrast between colors. Meanwhile, tourists' photographs uncover reality through far lower chromatic saturation. The findings imply that the DMO uses photography for promoting an idealized image of a destination. On the other hand, tourist photography reveals the common places of a destination so that discrepancies of chromatic experiences are inevitable between the manipulated visual image and the everyday appearance of a destination. This thesis contributes particularly to tourism visual research by bridging the research gaps through corroborating how color explains that promoted images are idealized appearances of a destination, and to what extent the same picture taken in the same site shows different visual experiences. In addition, it widens methodological options by offering an alternative method to the heavily weighted use of interpretative methods. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b26731125.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.08 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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