Bianca Hinterdorfer’s research while affiliated with IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems and other places

The internet and social media play a major role as information sources for tourists and travellers in the travel decision making process. Since the tourism product is intangible, travellers have to rely on images and descriptions regarding travel products and services. Images are subconsciously more influencing than text. Therefore, online photo sharing platforms such as Flickr or Pinterest offer great potential for marketing in the tourism industry. This paper introduces the opportunities of Pinterest in the tourism industry and analyses its usage among Austrian destination management organisations (DMOs). The Pinterest outlets of three Austrian DMOs are analysed and benchmarked with the Pinterest website of the Swiss National Tourist Organisation. Moreover, an online survey was conducted among Austrian DMOs. The results indicate that the usage of Pinterest is still rather limited. Nevertheless, the prevailing opinion towards photo sharing websites for marketing purposes in general and towards Pinterest in particular is positive.