Effective tourism destination photos: Matching effects between photographic composition and destination type

Photographic composition is a visual design principle that enhances the aesthetic appeal of advertising images. Symmetry and the rule of thirds (RoT) are two classical composition strategies that affect consumers’ emotions and behavior. However, only a few studies have examined these two compositions of travel photos or their marketing effects. This study adopted the schema congruity theory to advance the literature on tourism advertisements and photographic composition by investigating the matching effect of photographic composition (symmetry vs. RoT) and destination type (utilitarian vs. hedonic vs. controlled) on travel intentions. Three experiments were conducted to examine this effect. The findings revealed that both utilitarian destination photos with symmetrical compositions and hedonic destination photos with RoT compositions elicited high travel intentions. The mediating roles of processing fluency and perceived destination attractiveness in the matching effect were also verified. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in this study.