City Branding in #stayhome Era: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Official Tourism Instagram Account Uses of New York City and London

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to explore how Instagram was utilized in city branding context during COVID-19. By applying visual and textual content analysis method, this study aimed to identify any shifts in Instagram uses of two iconic tourism destinations, which were hit by the crisis particularly hard: New York City, and London. According to data collected from official tourism accounts of above-mentioned cities, the first confirmed cases significantly impacted city branding practices of both cities. The findings indicate that the most frequently used hashtags have changed, the number of informative posts has increased, the number of landscape photos in the post content has increased, while the number of photos containing elements such as cultural events, shopping and people has decreased. Furthermore, a significant decline in the number of inviting posts was observed. The study provides significant insights both to the city branding professionals, and to the scholars of this understudied area.