Influencers on Instagram: what place in the communication of mountain destinations? -DUMAS

Inoxtag, with almost 8 million subscribers on YouTube and its ascent of Everest1, the TikTok video of an American influencer crying in Lyon2, the call from Kilian Jornet, to a million subscribers on Instagram, to boycott the ‘UTMB3… What do they have in common? Be followed by millions of people on social networks and have an impact on the perception of the subjects they address among their subscribers, due to their digital notoriety. There are numerous influencer accounts whose main themes are tourism in natural spaces and travel, including publications relating in particular to mountains, hiking and roaming. They post recommendations for hiking or trips to take, in France or elsewhere, from the most beautiful viewpoints than the others. Who has never wanted, when seeing a beautiful photo of a mountain lake on a sunny day, to go there too? Social networks thus cause a mimicry effect, making those who see photos of places deemed beautiful want to go there too. So, if this mimicry effect is applied to mountain areas, it can have notable consequences on the preservation of its biodiversity. This is one of the reasons why influencers in the field of travel and tourism are prey to numerous controversies, linked to their impact on the natural spaces they promote, just like social networks in general with the speed of diffusion of a photo that can go viral.