Purpose: This paper analyses the use of photographs in the digital tourism marketing strategy of DMOs in the lesser studied context of the Middle East to explore what are the contents that define the identity of the destinations based on their social media visual storytelling. Methods: The method is based on a visual methodology which consisted of a content analysis of 279 posts published on the Instagram accounts of the United Arab Emirates destinations of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. Results: Results show that the categories that have a more relevant presence in the digital narrative engage visitors with experiences related to fun and adrenaline, architecture, and heritage. Implications: This paper is one of the first to analyse how destinations in the Middle East create a tourism attraction factor through their digital tourism marketing strategy on Instagram.

SUBMITTED: OCT 2024, REVISION SUBMITTED: JAN 2025, ACCEPTED: MAR 2025, REFEREED ANONYMOUSLY, PUBLISHED ONLINE: 15 JUNE 2025 JEL Classification: L83, M31, Z33

Refereed article (double blind peer-review), published at Journal of Tourism, Heritage & Services Marketing (Platinum Open Access journal).