You gawk at the structured edges, salivate over the polished surface and imagine yourself to be part of a perfect world, as portrayed in the photoshopped pictures on websites. Welcome to the world of travel porn that's making travellers visit the not-so-famous destinations and is getting revenue to firms. Karan Bhardwaj writes on the new addiction
It is said that it’s so addictive that once you are used to it, you won’t be able to resist yourself at the work or a public place. You will look forward to a moment when you can forget the people and the world around and just let yourself be with the shades, shadows and sun. We are talking about the travel porn — the term increasingly being used by the travel junkies and the bloggers to define the high-resolution, perfectly photoshopped pictures that come across as a fantasy world and will tempt you to such an extent that after staring at them for a couple of minutes, your next step will be to contact the travel firms and find out more about the place. After food porn, it is travel porn that is now also being used as a promotional strategy by the travel agencies.
How it worksIJ
The fascinating images of alluring destinations definitely have an Alice in Wonderland kind of effect. “Pictures that capture the beauty and uniqueness of the place work as powerful motivators to compel people to consider a holiday and the destination being featured. People almost immediately transport themselves mentally from their frantic work/family life to the holiday destination,” said Abraham Alapatt, Marketing Head, Thomas Cook (India). On social networking websites like Facebook, such images pop up frequently. Rohit Bajaj, a frequent traveller feels positive after coming across such images. “They have good vibes and are pleasing to the eye,” he said.
Business fundas
For stakeholders, addiction to travel porn has expanded the business drastically. Uploading images on social networking websites are getting lucrative deals. “Visuals play at least 70 per cent role in creating excitement. What’s wrong in creating adventure fantasiesIJ It is part of our rich media strategy. It’s about making product more attractive. Exotic images help us in getting attention and creating business. The core idea is to expand the customer base by luring more people,” said an official from travel website MakeMyTrip.
“We post a lot of content on Facebook and have a dedicated team to check on promotions. They create and gather special content for online promotion. Over time, we have realised its effectiveness since travellers and other people share these images on their walls,” the official added.
Since the demand of imaginary shots has increased, a lot of travel photographers are cashing in on the trend. “A photographer takes hours to capture a special moment. The companies are now selling that moment. We get exposure and money. Sometimes, we are also told to exaggerate beyond a point which blows a scene out of proportion,” said a Delhi-based photographer.
Unreal fantasyIJ
Most photographs that you see floating on the Internet may also present a false picture. They are edited with softwares like Photoshops and create the desired output. “Every lensman edits the image. They crop, edit the unwanted portions drastically. No wonder when you reach the destination, you find absolutely opposite picture. I myself browse images but remain careful. A good photographer can make any place look beautiful. Sometimes, if there are wires in a scene, he would eliminate to maintain the scenic beauty,” said travel blogger Mridula Dwivedi. The 41-year-old got excited after seeing the images of Annapurna Circuit in Nepal and took no time to rush.
Similarly, she had enormous expectations on her visit to The lake District (England) which looked “absolutely amazing”. “All I could find was blue sky instead cloudy images and beautiful sun scene. I think travel agencies must also be cautious while putting those alluring images. It can backfire also in long run,” she said.