Measuring destination image dissonance: A compositional data analysis of cross-media representations in Sanya’s Tourism

Xueli Li, Jianlan Ding, Yina Zhang and Tao Hu

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: This study examines Sanya’s tourism image disparities across cognitive, spatial, and affective dimensions in Press Generated Content (PGC), Tourist Generated Content (TGC), and Official Generated Content (OGC) (2013–2022), comparing pre-pandemic (2013–2019) and COVID-19 (2020–2022) periods. Results show: cognitive consistency in “tourism/hotels” but TGC focusing on “coastal + food” vs. PGC/OGC emphasizing policy elements; spatial misalignment between policy-driven spaces and tourists’ preferred spaces, revealing a systematic dissonance between institutional promotion and on-the-ground practices; affective dominance of “enjoyment/romance” but TGC expressing unmet needs and OGC suppressing negatives. Systematic cognitive divergence exists between official and tourist narratives. The Aitchison distance measuring this divergence jumps from 19.574 in the pre-pandemic phase (2013–2019) to 40.648 during the pandemic-impacted phase (2020–2022), demonstrating that structural gaps between the two narrative systems become more pronounced amid the public health crisis. Targeted strategies are accordingly proposed to narrow such narrative discrepancies.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0360383

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0360383

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