Tourism and photography: a bibliometric study of using image analysis methodologies in tourism research

Abstract This article aims at investigating the use of image analysis methodologies in recent (2012-2017) tourism research on national and international levels. Through exploratory research and a systematic review of literature-of a bibliometric nature-in a worldwide journal database, it sought to verify the main methodologies used in the field of tourism, in which areas these methods are mostly used, and how images for research are collected. As a result, we verified that tourism research makes use of traditional methodologies such as semiotics and content analysis in its analysis of images. Several methodologies have appeared on a lesser degree, such as volunteer-employed photography, visual anthropology/photoetnography, photoelicitation, Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET), and others, including iconography. It should be noted that the use of these methodologies in the studies analyzed was accompanied by other highly-regarded qualitative methods-in-depth interviews and participant observation, for example-as a way to validate the research results. However, as it was noted through this mapping, visual analysis methodologies can contribute to tourism research, capturing the tourist gaze and offering perspectives that neither surveys nor in-depth interviews are able to provide. Therefore, this article points towards new possibilities for tourism research.

摘要 本文旨在探究2012至2017年近年国内外旅游研究中图像分析方法的应用现状。通过探索性研究与对全球期刊数据库内文献计量学相关文献的系统综述，本文旨在验证旅游研究领域所采用的主流方法论、这些方法的主要应用方向，以及研究用图像的采集途径。研究结果显示，旅游研究在图像分析环节多采用符号学、内容分析等传统方法论。另有一批应用规模较小的方法，包括自愿参与式摄影、视觉人类学/摄影民族志、照片诱导法、扎尔特曼隐喻诱引技术（Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique, ZMET）及图像学等。值得注意的是，在所纳入分析的研究中，上述视觉分析方法往往搭配深度访谈、参与式观察等广受学界认可的定性研究方法共同使用，以验证研究结论的可靠性。不过，通过本次研究梳理可见，视觉分析方法可为旅游研究提供独特助力，能够捕捉游客凝视（tourist gaze）并提供问卷调研与深度访谈均无法实现的研究视角。因此，本文为旅游研究领域指明了全新的发展可能性。