The importance of coherence between text and images in tourism promotion.

One of the reasons Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms are so successful is that we're drawn to images. Photos and videos can awaken our desires and emotions.

This applies to all industries, but it's particularly important in tourism. Who hasn't been captivated by a photo of a beautiful waterfall, or started to desire a destination after seeing that blue sea in an online video?

The problem is when these images are accompanied by small letters that contradict what we're seeing in the images, and our brains tend to pay more attention to the images. After all, they're colorful, beautiful, and evoke feelings in us. Much more than the small letters, right?

We're not going to talk about using filters or editing images—that's another discussion. But let's consider how important this is when it comes to pet-friendly tourism.

As a pet-friendly tourism professional, I always thoroughly evaluate all pet-friendly policy rules before booking a reservation. But as a mother of four dogs, I confess that images always attract me, and often mislead me. It's common to find situations where images of pet-friendly destinations seem promising, but the rules hidden between the lines don't align with what's shown.

I've seen some establishments (several, to be honest) that hire pet influencers for promotions, but they forget to evaluate whether it's consistent with their rules. I've seen countless large dogs in hotel promotions where the rule is to only accept smaller dogs. A classic example is having a golden retriever and only accepting dogs up to 10 kg.

We often see images of loose dogs running around, and sometimes even swimming in the pool, but when we get to the location there is no space where they can be loose, and taking off the leash means committing an infraction against the location's policy.

It's crucial to analyze the entire customer journey, from first contact at the top of the funnel to checkout and beyond. These seemingly small details make a huge difference in the customer experience. A customer's experience with a destination doesn't begin upon arrival, nor upon booking. The customer experience begins when they discover the destination, begin researching it, visit the website, view photos on Instagram, and often make a decision before even contacting the reservations team. The top of the funnel begins with a simple photo or video.

Oh, but it's written in the rules, and everyone needs to read them. Of course! I agree that everyone needs to carefully read all the rules and, of course, respect them. However, the importance of aligning visual communication, both on the website and social media, with the establishment's rules and protocols cannot be underestimated.

I understand that this is usually not done in bad faith, but rather due to a lack of guidance or attention to detail. In the world of pet-friendly tourism, where four-legged travelers are increasingly common, cohesion between the visual experience and the rules is a fundamental requirement.

Tourism isn't a hamburger, so it's not worth putting in small print at the end of the text: "photo for illustration purposes only", okay?