After having been launched in October 2010 exclusive on iOS, Instagram rapidly gained

popularity with over 1 billion registered users in May 2019. Instagram allows users to upload
and share public photos, videos to the service, which is the best favorable condition for
Instagram tourism to expand its potentiality. Along with this explosion, there were some views
point out that Instagram tourism has made negative impacts on travel that might prevent
tourism growth. Although some people insist on Instagram tourism is social media ruining
travel, there is some evidence that it has to bring about positive effects on travel.
Opponents of the anti-Instagramtourism claim that posting videos or photos about tourist
reduce people interest in a travel experience. They believe that there is no reason to travel
while you can see everything on Instagram or other social media such as facebook, twitter,
youtube. In most cases, if you search for a place where you want to visit there will be numerous
videos or information about it on Instagram, so all that you need to do is just watching.
However, statistics demonstrate the contrast. According to Sue Badyari of World Expeditions,
all those selfies posted by snap-happy travelers are broadening our collective travel horizons.
She has seen a surge of sales in big-ticket adventure trips such as the Inca Trail, the Great Wall
Trek, the Kilimanjaro Climb or the trek to Everest Base camp – driven, she says, by images
posted on social media. "People read blogs, watch videos and look at stunning images from
Instagram from these adventures and they think, 'Gosh, I'd like to do that'," says Badyari. "That
perpetuates more growth for those types of trips." Whether posting on a desert hill or a busy
market, such images uploaded to Instagram attracts a large number of viewers, making them
crave for a chance to experience the same thing.
Opponents also maintain that Instagram tourism is the main reason to destroy the travel
experience as well as the original essence of many tourist attractions. They point out that major
of tourists don’t even bother to give heed to items on display, once they have taken a photo,
they quickly move on another item. Moreover, they said that the government in many places
had changed the original structure of landscapes so that they are more convenient for selfie,
which destroys the environment here. However, such an argument completely ignores that
tourists visit somewhere because of its primitive beauty or cultural value not because it is great
for the photograph. Furthermore, there is no wrong when someone wants to take a photo and
post it on Instagram to preserve their moment in an interesting land and show it off. They have
much time left to contemplate the sight. Besides, the government can find out about tourist
comment on Instagram, in this way, they have a politic strategy to improve service or setting so
that they can attract more and more tourists to come here.
The final argument advanced by opponents is that photos or videos posted on Instagram is just
a small extent and unreliable. They think that people absorbed photos on Instagram may waste
their time and money in a mind-numbing place. However, Instagram tourism not just merely
contain photos and videos. Below each post are comments of tourists who had experience on
this trip. They not only talk about the upsides but also talk about different aspects of this trip
especially bloggers. They traveled and then they provide objective opinion so that people can
consult and have a suitable plan for their trip. One people extol a location, there may be
unreliable, but million people all praise about it, there is the truth.
To sum up, we can’t deny the positive effects of Instagram tourism on travel despite the
contrary view of the opponents. Thank for the development of social media, people can travel
easier than before.