National Geographic published an article a few days ago that compared the baroque facade of the church of Gumiel in Izán (Burgos) with the Jordanian treasure of Petra. So far so good, another travelogue. Everything came to a head, however, when this news went viral on social media. Since then, the flood of visitors to this small Burgos town has not stopped increasing. “We don’t give the scope”, they say at the City Council. There are no hands to serve so many tourists and, in order not to die of success, it is being studied to charge an entrance fee to visit the cathedral. It is the latest example of the power of the networks -TikTok is very prevalent- when it comes to making a destination fashionable. With just one photo, as is the case, it is enough to flood the most hidden corner of the world with visitors and overflow it.
With this church, the photo does not deceive; the facade is just as it looks. But this is not always the case. Xiapu, a small Chinese town, was a pioneering destination in the deceptive capture of tourists with the lure of postcard images posted on the networks. In this town they have made an effort to create photo corners. And the images that tourists spread on the channels attract more tourists. Everything is a lie. Xiapu is still a decoration, but the visitor will not discover it until he sets foot in the town and comes face to face with reality. Not everything is as bucolic or beautiful as it appears in the images, which, in addition to being misleading, have overcrowded the destination.
Everything responds to a tourist strategy, which is now in full swing, which takes advantage of the posturing on the networks and the perfect photo to attract visitors. As Pablo Díaz, professor of Economics and Business studies at the Open University of Catalonia and expert in tourism, explains well, after giving the example of Xiapu, themed spaces are created to satisfy the visitor; all “oriented so that the postcard photos are posted on the networks”. These channels already accumulate so much power that they can ruin a destination and kill it successfully by sudden and unexpected massifications at specific times.
These avalanches of tourists in corners unable to absorb so many visits are beginning to have a response among the local inhabitants. Díaz remembers the posters that were hung at the entrances to paradisiacal coves in the Balearic Islands to warn that the sea was polluted by faecal water or to warn that swimming in it was very dangerous. It’s all a lie. With these posters, the natives try to protect the spaces.
Pablo Díaz corroborates, as various studies also agree, that the networks have more and more influence among travelers every day and are therefore to blame for the saturation of some destinations. And the experience “sold” through these channels, as is the case with the example of Xiapu, will not always be positive. Many visitors, when they arrive at the site, complain to the same networks that acted as a claim, that what has been published there – sometimes by influencers – does not correspond to reality. Ironies of the new tourism.
Facebook has held this new massification power for years. Instagram took over and is now about to lose the top spot to TikTok. This platform “has a lot of momentum”, different studies agree, with a growing influence among those who turn to this universe when they are looking for a place for getaways or information about what can be done in a specific destination.
TikTok, with more than 1,000 million users, is not the network with the most followers, but it is the perfect channel, with short videos, to explain experiences and immortalize idyllic corners, says Pablo Díaz. Also, this content goes viral much faster than what is posted on other platforms. It is clear that the rules of the game have changed and the risk of successfully killing the most hidden corner is much higher today, due to the soaring influence of these networks. The Changing traveler report, prepared by SiteMinder, concludes that six out of ten trips to Spain are planned based on recommendations that have been posted on these channels.
