The Transformation of a Neutral Lake Landscape into a Meaningful Experience – Interpreting Tourist Photos

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present the mental images of the Finnish lakeland held by potential Italian and German tourists. Image analysis was used in order to find the attributes tourists connect to pictures of lake landscape and to their own mental images of the places shown. The attributes found were classified under categories through which the touristic potential of the lake could be approached. The mental images evoked by the pictures emerging in the present study are individual and cultural at the same time. Although the individual nature of the mental images became prominent in the analysis, there were identifiable similarities in them. From the marketing point of view, each picture proved to have a special function in a given country. The respondents approached the pictures both as outside observers and as participating actors. The transformation of a neutral lake landscape into a meaningful experience depended on the mental images evoked by both the aesthetic content of the picture and its internal elements. The neutral lake landscape was turned into a meaningful place through the experiences and sensations the respondents attached to the pictures.