How Distinct and Aligned with UGC is European Capitals’ DMO Branding on Instagram?

Destination positioning refers to destinations identifying their most distinct attributes and focusing on these in their marketing activities in order to distinguish themselves from competitors, develop a brand identity and highlight uniqueness. In this paper, we consider 9 European capitals and analyse their visual marketing on Instagram to identify how truly distinct their destinations are being presented online. By comparing between them as well as comparing to the perceived destination image measured from visitor photos on the same platform, we present a methodology for identifying each destinations distinct attributes and measuring how well DMOs are positioning themselves with respect to competing destinations, with recommendations for improving their positioning.