How the backs of strangers become your invisible guides

When selecting your next travel destination, what types of photos capture your attention?

Featured faculty: Lisa Wan
Written by Pan Jingyi

Imagine you are scrolling through Instagram or RedNote, craving your next travel adventure. A stunning mountain vista appears, but it leaves you unmoved. Then you see the same peak again, this time with a lone hiker, back turned, gazing at the horizon. Suddenly, you pause. “That could be me,” you think.

Science can explain why you feel indifferent to stunning landscapes, but get captivated by a random hiker’s back view, regardless of their personal attractiveness. Travellers heavily rely on imagination when planning trips, as tourism is unique—you can’t try before you buy. Therefore, visual materials play a powerful role in helping tourists envision future experiences.

“We found that the presence of a person in photos significantly prompted tourists to imagine their future travel experiences in the depicted travel scenes, thereby enhancing the perceived destination attractiveness.”

Professor Lisa Wan

But what happens when people are included in these photos? Researchers have long debated whether human presence enhances or detracts from a destination’s appeal. Lisa Wan, Associate Professor of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management and Department of Marketing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School, delves deeper into this question, shedding light on the psychology behind it.

“We found that the presence of a person in photos significantly prompted tourists to imagine their future travel experiences in the depicted travel scenes, thereby enhancing the perceived destination attractiveness,” says Professor Wan.

Moreover, she adds, this favourable effect depends on the type of photo and how the human figure is portrayed.

Humans activate mental simulation

In the study titled Inspiring tourists’ imagination: How and when human presence in photographs enhances travel mental simulation and destination attractiveness, Professor Wan and her PhD student, Li Yuan, conducted three experimental studies across different cultures to test their hypotheses.

The first study recruited 200 American participants through an online platform, aiming to investigate how human presence in destination photos affects tourists’ responses. All participants were required to imagine planning a trip and were shown a travel recommendation post on the social media platform.

As expected, participants found the destination more appealing when the photos included human figures. “The inclusion of humans in the photo activated their mental simulation, resulting in an increase in perceived destination attractiveness,” says Professor Wan.

Mental simulation is a future-thinking process, which happens when people imagine and create scenarios in their minds based on memories and past experiences. “Human presence in destination photos can act as a mental shortcut, making it easier for you to imagine yourself in that scene by observing how other individuals interact with the place,” she adds.

This experience is similar to seeing someone model clothing, which helps us envision how the outfit would look on ourselves. The vivid and detailed imagery of the product experience and consumption process enhances tourists’ connection to the destinations, thus amplifying the destination attractiveness, she explains.

Visible vs. invisible faces

Some studies support the positive effects of including humans in travel photos, but others argue it may diminish tourists’ perceived attractiveness. To explore this further, the team tested different ways of portraying people in photos.

In the second study, nearly 500 American and British participants were recruited from the same online platform. They were randomly assigned to view one of three types of landscape photos: without human presence, with human faces visible and with human faces invisible.

Researchers discovered that travel destinations appear more attractive when the faces in the photos are invisible. Additionally, the physical attractiveness and gender of the model did not impact the results.

“The presence of unfamiliar faces in the photo would make consumers more aware that it is someone else’s travel experience but not theirs, potentially hindering their ability to retrieve self-referencing memories and knowledge to simulate future scenarios,” says Professor Wan.

Natural vs. urban landscape

In the final study, the researchers explored how the types of destinations affect the impact of human presence in photos. This offline experiment involved over 250 Chinese undergraduate students from a university in Hong Kong. The participants were shown photos of a natural mountain landscape or a view of a European city street.

Interestingly, human presence enhanced the appeal of natural landscapes but had a less significant impact on urban ones. Professor Wan notes that urban landscapes represent typical man-made environments, which can effectively activate observers’ mental simulation process and diminish the positive effect of human presence cues.

“In contrast, individuals have fewer expectations about what they can do in the non-humanised scene.  Human presence in such cases would effectively help viewers construct potential behavioural scenarios,” she says.

Present human in a wise way

It’s not uncommon for marketers to include human figures in travel photos to attract tourists, but Professor Wan emphasises the importance of doing it wisely.

Given that mental simulation induced by human presence can significantly improve destination attractiveness, she encourages marketers to incorporate human figures in travel photos on their official websites and social media thoughtfully.

It would be more beneficial to include humans in natural landscape photos than those with urban views. However, Professor Wan reminds that showing a clear face may backfire, “using a model with a back view or an unclear face can reduce the intrusiveness of others to achieve a better communication effect.”

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What about urban attractions? The researchers recommend to highlight the atmosphere, design details or the cultural vibe instead of filling the photo with human figures.

While the results are consistent among participants from various backgrounds, Professor Wan notes that cultural nuances may still play a role. These nuances can manifest in varying attitudes towards group versus solo travel and preferences for social versus private experiences.

Besides these subtle cultural differences, researchers can also further explore how advancements in technology could open new opportunities for leveraging human presence in travel promotion. “Future research can investigate whether the positive effects of human presence still exist in advanced visual formats, such as video and virtual reality devices,” she adds.