Created on a social network basis, Instagram pages effectively contribute to shaping our mental perception regarding various topics. On the other hand, those Instagram pages dedicated to travel have highly been welcomed by viewers in recent years. Actually, the represen
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Created on a social network basis, Instagram pages effectively contribute to shaping our mental perception regarding various topics. On the other hand, those Instagram pages dedicated to travel have highly been welcomed by viewers in recent years. Actually, the representations made by the relevant influences concerning the travel process, travel destination, and travel meaning construct some explicit and implicit meanings. Therefore, this study sought to identify the semantic system governing the popular Instagram pages of travel influencers. The conceptual framework of the study is based on John Fisk's semiotic approach and his social reality codes, including social reality, representational reality, and ideological reality. Social reality codes address physical characteristics such as speech, environment, and clothing. Moreover, representational reality codes deal with the sender's creative power, including framing, colors, companionship and substitution, and characterization. Finally, ideological reality codes examine the concept that gives coherence to such categories.
The findings of the study indicated that naturalism, intimacy, liberation in social relations and individual lifestyle, availability and ease of travel, charm-seeking, desire for freedom, travel as a lifestyle, and responsible travel are the pivotal values represented by travel influencers at the level of ideological codes, representing such a special type of tourism that seeks changes in daily routines, acquisition of new experiences, the quest for authenticity, and returning to the true self. This travel style represents a conscious or non-conscious effort against the homogenization of the modern world and a kind of resistance against daily routines, rationalization, and social order.
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