Natural and built photographic images: Preference, complexity and recall

Abstract

An investigation of the effect of natural versus built images of tourism activities on consumer responses was undertaken, using a selection of tourism promotion photographs. A sample of 156 males and 175 females provided ratings for images including: preference (liking), degree of complexity, consumption vision, and recall. The research provides evidence for consumer preference for natural versus built images, shows the role of complexity as an association to image type, and demonstrates that areas of interest most liked within an image are different by gender. Tourism activity images that are predominantly natural are more likely to be recalled. This study contributes to the application of a new method using areas of interest to pinpoint elements of images that are most interesting.