Yanwen Dong - Manli Travel Company

Social Media Experiment: Zero Cost Traveling through Instagram Filters

FUTURE OF TRAVELING

Having little time or low budget for a quality getaway?

Seeing nothing but mountains of people at tourist attractions?

Especially when traveling physically is not recommended during these days,

Manli is your best solution.

We are a travel agency that provides virtual traveling services. At Manli, we promote zero cost, high efficiency, effortless traveling experience that aims to fulfill those who wish to ‘travel’ around the world with no restriction through photos and selfies.

Our Services

Instead of actually traveling around, Manli invites tourists to “travel” by using exclusive instagram filters provided by @manlitravelcompany.

Tourists are encouraged to document their travel experiences, including taking selfies or videos to pretend going on picnics at different locations around the world, posing with backgrounds filled with essential travel phrases, and justify their “travel experiences” through reposting.

Timeline

Manli Travel Company first launched its service on Instagram in 2018 by taking orders of photoshopping tourists onto their selected destinations manually. In 2019 we decided to upgrade the service and had the concept of having a real retro travel agency, that provides virtual traveling service inside in order to provoke a twisted feeling of entering the social media age.

Background

Originally written for the digital publication of HINDSIGHT, this essay explains the phenomenon that inspired the project, the research process, and reflection on virtual traveling and filters.