SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE DESTINATIONS: THE CASE OF KHIVA

Annotatsiya

Social media is an essential tool for recommending tourism destinations, as while traveling they can upload images, videos and experience. This is particularly true for cultural heritage sites especially those with their architecture, historical buildings and traditional practices. An exploration of Instagram Reels Representations of Khiva, Uzbekistan as a heritage place. The technique employs a mix of techniques for cosmetic assessment, involving qualitative reading of visuals and quantitative classification. In total, seven publically available Reels were chosen which are classified into three categories as historical monuments and architecture (n = 4; 57.1%), traditional culture and crafts (n = 2; 28.6%) and personal travel experience (n = 1; 14.3%). Engagement level varied. A traditional dance was about one of. A Reel of a traditional dance had about 54,700 likes, and one showing the Kalta Minor Minaret with birds overhead had about 42,600. Both historical architecture and cultural performance can attract attention online, although a sample this small cannot be generalised. The study gives a first look at how Reels show Khiva’s history and culture and points to what further research should do.