Good places on Instagram: a tourism related visual and meta-data analysis

Purpose Good places are welcoming spaces where people can relax and enjoy themselves. The purpose of this study is to expand Ray Oldenburg’s “good places” theory in the realm of tourism, recognising its potential in exploring how tourism activities engage with and interpret third places. Oldenburg argued that society thrives on three essential spaces: home and work as first and second places, while third places are social environments where people gather informally. Surprisingly, the role of tourists in shaping third places has not received much academic attention. The purpose of this study is to explore the tourism-related third places on Instagram. Design/methodology/approach The visual analysis draws upon Oldenburg’s third places theory and explores an Instagram reel on third places that solicited 2,436 comments by tourists. To further explore visuals on “great, good places”, text mining and co-occurrence analysis were used on 13,746 Instagram posts and hashtags of #goodplace and #greatplace. This meta-data analysis provides insights into the Instagram travel content labelled as good places. Findings The results of the study indicate that tourists associate the concept of “great good places” on Instagram with the walkability of cities, the spontaneous encounters with people, the availability of outdoor facilities, parks and squares and the opportunities for social interaction they offer daily. These places are perceived as offering free experiences. The visual analysis reveals that travel-related good places can be at the centre of social media travel narratives. Research limitations/implications The study focused on #great #good places but while the hashtags were widely used on Instagram, it cannot be assumed that people intend to refer to third places as great, good places. It is acknowledged that maybe these hashtags were added to the travel related content to get more reactions from followers. The co-occurrence analysis of Instagram posts has difficulties in capturing the depth of user sentiment or emotional attachment. Practical implications Tourism marketers can use the results to emphasise the importance of third places on social media. Three key aspects of good places emerged: the importance of walkable cities; the possibility of spontaneous gatherings, which tourists appreciate for their serendipity; and the desire to enjoy outdoor experiences in natural surroundings. Tourism experience designers aiming to position destinations as good places could take these aspects into account. The hashtag #goodplace is popular on Instagram; therefore, marketers of tourism destinations aiming to attract tourists seeking relaxed, walkable and visually pleasant environments should consider incorporating it into their social media strategies. Originality/value Findings provide new insights into how Oldenburg’s third place theory can be expanded into the field of tourism and it opens paths for further research. The utilisation of a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods enables a better understanding of tourism-related visual data shared, commented and tagged on Instagram.