Strategic Communication in Seasonal Tourism Campaigns: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of the Khareef Dhofar 2023 Instagram Campaign
This mixed-methods study of the 2023 Khareef Dhofar Instagram campaign reveals that despite high reach, a strategic imbalance favoring persuasion over foundational awareness stages—termed "mid-funnel myopia"—combined with operational deficits, critically undermined visitor conversion and highlights the need for more sequential, integrated communication planning in GCC tourism.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
In the world of modern travel, the way people choose where to go has shifted from reading brochures to scrolling through screens. Governments and tourism boards now rely heavily on social media to tell their stories, hoping that a beautiful photo or an exciting video will convince a viewer to pack a bag and book a ticket. To understand if these digital campaigns actually work, communication experts often use two different ways of thinking. One approach looks at the relationship between the organization and the public, asking if the campaign is just shouting a message or if it is truly listening and talking back. The other approach views advertising as a step-by-step journey, suggesting that a person must first hear about a place, then understand what it offers, then feel a strong desire to go, and finally take the specific action of visiting. When a campaign skips the early steps and jumps straight to the desire, it often fails to turn interest into actual travel.
This is the puzzle that a team of researchers at Sultan Qaboos University set out to solve by studying a specific, high-profile tourism event in Oman. Every year, the southern region of Dhofar experiences the Khareef, a unique monsoon season that transforms the arid landscape into a lush, green paradise. In 2023, the local municipality launched a major marketing campaign on Instagram to promote this season, aiming to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors. The researchers wanted to know if the campaign was doing what it was supposed to do: not just getting people to look at the photos, but getting them to actually plan a trip. They analyzed every single post made during the campaign and interviewed the people who managed it, looking for the gap between a successful social media presence and a successful tourism outcome.
The study began by examining the 209 posts published on the official Instagram account between mid-July and early September 2023. The researchers found that the campaign was visually stunning and reached a massive audience, generating nearly 9.5 million views. The content was dominated by high-quality videos and images of the region's misty mountains, waterfalls, and cultural festivals. However, when the researchers looked closer at the strategy behind these images, they discovered a significant imbalance. The vast majority of the posts were designed to persuade people to feel good about the destination, using emotional appeals and beautiful scenery. Very few posts were dedicated to simply informing people about the basics, such as how to get there, what the weather is like, or where to stay.
This imbalance created a problem that the researchers describe as a missing foundation. According to the step-by-step model of advertising, a viewer needs to understand the practical details of a trip before they can be convinced to take it. The campaign, however, seemed to assume that everyone already knew these details. It focused heavily on creating a desire to visit, but it provided almost no information to help a potential visitor turn that desire into a plan. The result was a campaign that was very good at getting attention but very poor at getting results. Despite the millions of views, the number of people who actually commented saying they intended to visit was incredibly small, with only 31 comments expressing a clear plan to travel during the season.
The interviews with the campaign managers revealed why this happened. The team faced several operational hurdles that prevented them from building a complete strategy. The project manager was appointed late, after the campaign had already started, which meant there was no time for careful pre-planning. The official Instagram account had been inactive for nearly a year before the campaign launched, which hurt its visibility on the platform. Furthermore, the team lacked specialized staff to write informative content or manage direct conversations with the public. Instead of answering questions or providing practical guides, the campaign relied heavily on partnerships with influencers to spread the word. While this helped the campaign reach more people, it did not help them build a relationship with the audience or answer the specific questions that would convince someone to book a ticket.
The researchers concluded that the campaign suffered from what they call "mid-funnel myopia." This is a fancy way of saying the campaign was short-sighted about the middle part of the decision-making process. It was so focused on the emotional appeal of the destination that it forgot to lay the groundwork. It assumed that if people liked the pictures, they would naturally know how to visit. But for many people, especially those from outside the region or those visiting for the first time, the lack of practical information was a barrier. The campaign spoke to people who already knew what they wanted, but it failed to guide the people who needed to understand how to make it happen.
The study suggests that for future campaigns to be truly successful, they need to change their approach. They should start preparing months in advance, creating content that explains the basics of the trip long before the season begins. They need to answer the practical questions that people are asking, such as where to find hotels or how to navigate the roads. Most importantly, they need to treat their social media accounts as places for two-way conversation, not just one-way broadcasting. By building a bridge between the beautiful images and the practical reality of travel, tourism boards can turn the millions of people who look at their posts into the thousands who actually visit. The beauty of the Khareef season is undeniable, but to share it with the world, the message must be as complete as the landscape itself.
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