The value of tourism as a driver of economic and social development in Africa cannot be overstated. Tourism is regarded as a source of foreign currency, employment creation and more importantly, a means of achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Notwithstanding its contributions, many African countries are yet to reap the full benefits of the industry. While the current pandemic has adversely affected tourism across the continent, it has also created opportunities for rural tourism. Rural destinations in Southern Africa could tap from this new trend as local and international visitors seek to experience open spaces and rural settings. Succeeding in these highly competitive tourist markets, however, requires effective destination promotion which can be achieved by ensuring that the projected image of a destination reflects its identity. By focusing on Nyanga, a typical rural tourist destination in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, this study sought to analyse the projected destination image against its identity as perceived by the local community. To establish the projected image, a content analysis was done for Nyanga’s images as portrayed on the online platforms of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), the official destination promoter. A total of 44 pictures were analysed from the ZTA website, Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter handle. The destination identity was evaluated through semi-structured interviews with seven residents who were purposively selected through snowball sampling. Participants were also asked to give their opinion on the images of Nyanga that were showcased on the online platforms of the ZTA. This was done to ascertain whether the images were reflecting the true identity of Nyanga, from the perspective of the local community. The findings of the study reveal that there is a gap between the projected image and Nyanga’s identity. While the projected image emphasises on the natural environment and the portrayal of humans interacting with nature and each other, the identity is hinged on culture and religion. Elements relating to history, authenticity, and knowledge also shape the identity of Nyanga even though these aspects are not incorporated in the projected image. The study provides important insights for enhancing the promotion of Nyanga and creating opportunities for sustainable development.

L’industrie du tourisme est reconnue comme partie intégrante de l’économie dans un environnement mondial soumis à des influences macro difficiles à gérer et à maîtriser. Le tourisme alternatif tel que le tourisme éthique, est considéré comme une solution durable pour une industrie d’une grande importance dans le monde et qui représente une possibilité de survie économique pour certains pays. L’objectif de cette recherche était d’évaluer la perception du rôle de l’éthique sur la formation de l’image d’une destination touristique par un public étudiant voyageur français, et son influence sur ses choix. La méthode choisie a été principalement une approche constructiviste et qualitative permettant de transférer la contribution des connaissances à plusieurs disciplines, et a engendré des implications managériales dans l’industrie du tourisme. Les résultats démontrent que, bien que l’image éthique d’une destination touristique est principalement influencée par les aspects sociaux et environnementaux, pèsent également des considérations de gestion qui découlent des implications économiques et politiques du tourisme et des activités touristiques. Ces considérations seront essentielles lors de l’élaboration de futurs produits touristiques pour le marché cible que sont les futurs visiteurs dans un environnement mondial de plus en plus accessible. / The tourism industry has proven to be an economic reliance in a global environment that is subject to macro influences that are difficult to manage and sustain. Alternative tourism, such as Ethical tourism, is seen to be a sustainable solution for an industry that holds much importance worldwide and for some countries, presents economic survival. The aim of this research was to evaluate how the French student travel market perceive the role of ethics on tourist destination image formation and its influence on holiday choice. This was primarily achieved by adopting a constructivist and qualitative approach that allowed for rich knowledge of contribution to be transferred to several academic disciplines and provided managerial implications for the tourism industry. Findings show that although an ethical tourist destination image is principally influenced by social and environmental impacts, there are also managerial considerations that derive from the economic and political implications that come from tourism and tourist activity. These considerations will be key when developing future tourism products for a target market who are the future visitors of an ever increasing accessible global environment.

Sport events are known to be strategically utilized to ‘sell’ the identity of its host destination. This since projections of and from the sport event can indirectly reflect elements symbolizing the destination, generating an image transfer process. And oppositely, how visitors project their lived experiences of a sport event on social media, may also have an impact on the destination image. But in research, the issue of branding outcomes from sport events has predominantly been studied from a managerial perspective and was mainly conducted 15 years ago. Since then, digital revolutions have entered the global arena and offered innovative ways to share and create the stories of our lives; causing a change in our perspectives of how we interpret experiences of the world. In the context of sport tourism, existing knowledge on the field would benefit to gain new insights following these new circumstances. And given these circumstances, there is not only a theoretical need but also an implicational need to understand visitors’ subjective experiences when attending a hallmark event and how such are being projected to the world through social media. Answers may provide new, strategical opportunities for practitioners to coordinate their branding activities to align with values that visitors places into their experiences of sport events – which in long-term lead to favorable, shared destination images. This study provides a glimpse of this perspective, by approaching a contemporary case study of the hallmark sport event Svenska Skidspelen 2022 in Falun, Sweden. Focus lies to examine visitors’ subjective experiences judged by their uploaded content on Instagram. A thematic analysis combined with online interviews of users bring light to prominent themes arising from the content; ranging from emotional to spatial experiences of the sport event and the destination of Falun. Moreover, new light is brought upon the previous studied effects of sport event leverages. Results reveal how ‘liminal’ sensations of experiencing the ‘folkfest’ contribute greatly to the overall experience and affect how visitors projects their sense of place on Instagram. This study is to the author’s note being the first one during the last decade seeing these results.