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The perception of a country as a tourism destination is known as destination image which is formed autonomously by individuals through exposure to diverse personal and external factors. Said factors are usually beyond the control of the Destination Marketing Organisations, being social media travel influencers an external factor that serves as an important source of information for prospective travellers. The destination image has also been found to differ depending on the country of origin of travellers, being the distance from a destination as well as cultural factors relevant to its formation.

Based on this context, this study explores the role of Latin American travel influencers in shaping a destination image of Scotland, as a long-distance market, for their Latin American audience, and contrasts the portrayal of Scotland with that of Scotland’s Tourism Board. This study uses thematic analysis to assess the Instagram content of Latin American travel influencers and Scotland’s Tourism Board and triangulates the results with in-depth interviews with Latin American social media users.

The findings of this study provide a critical examination of the narratives used to portray tourism in Scotland such as romanticising the destination, practical guidance to navigate it and finally how these narratives are perceived by the Latin American social media users. The findings from this study provide managerial implications for Destination Marketing Organisations for the promotion of their destination brands as well as for Latin American travel influencers' to strengthen their role as information sources through the inclusion of cultural perspectives in their narratives.