Iconic Australian landscapes: International versus domestic photographic representations in tourists' travel blogs

Online social media allows tourists to instantaneously share their experiences. This presents an opportunity to unobtrusively explore the representations of tourists' travel experiences. The current study investigated the images connected to tourist experiences of iconic Australian landscapes as represented in travel blog photographs. The aims of the paper were to identify, explore and highlight international-domestic differences in visual representations of the Great Ocean Road, Australia's Red Centre and Wet Tropics National Landscapes. A content analysis of over 11,000 photographs was conducted according to four major areas: natural environment; Australian lifestyles and relationships; additional setting features; and, tourism infrastructure. Findings indicate that significant international-domestic differences exist in visual representations of the Great Ocean Road's natural environment and the Wet Tropics' additional setting features and tourism infrastructure experiences.