Abu Dhabi uses Instagram to endorse city

The Abu Dhabi tourism office is the latest agency to leverage the power of social media and photo sharing sites like Instagram to promote its destinations . In an attempt to engage the public, Visit Abu Dhabi has opened its first Instagram account which will showcase the city with 100 percent user-submitted photos. To help launch the new platform, the city is inviting users to to snap photos of the city and post them on the photo-sharing site using the hashtag #snapabudhabi over the next three months for the chance to win tickets to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Formula 1 race in November, return business class tickets to the city on Etihad Airways, and a three-night stay at a luxury hotel and spa, among other prizes. The city has also launched a new Facebook page, Discover Abu Dhabi that features expanded blog-style content along with events, agendas and itineraries to complement major happenings such as SummerFest Abu Dhabi, the Formula 1 and Gourmet Abu Dhabi. Other cities and tourist boards such as Paris, Norway and Hong Kong have also reached out to the Instagram community as part of their marketing strategies. Last year, Hong Kong launched an Instagram photo contest inviting users to upload photos of Christmas in Hong Kong for their chance to win different prizes. And the city of Paris has an active account in which users are invited to submit photos using the hashtag #parisjetaime.