Social media has been put to various creative use by destinations and suppliers, such as the Remote Control Tourist project by Tourism Victoria or KLM's LocalEyes Twitter concierge service.
Instagram being the obviously very visual channel that it is has lent itself not only to consumers sharing travel experiences but also brands trying to capitalise.
Recent examples include Starwood's decision to include Instagram pictures (taken by its guests) in its website, and Dubai's #MyDubai initiative.
Now step forward Burj Al Arab, the high profile luxury hotel in Dubai, and Beautiful Destinations, an Instagram travel account with over two million followers, which are jointly hosting a global "Instameet" event in the hotel.
To participate in the competition, participants were asked to post pictures of any destination on the image sharing service by tagging @beautifuldestinations and using the #WorldsUltimateInstameet hastag.
Earlier this month, each day the pair selected five images, which then added to the @burjalarab Instagram account.
Followers were then asked to select their favourite, with the highest by number of "likes" added to an invite list.
A total of ten people will participate in the Instameet later this month - five selected via the competition and five handpicked by Burj Al Arab and Beautiful Destinations.
Of course, the entire exercise is not just for the hell of it, Instameet attendees will enjoy a bunch of luxury products and services at the property (including two-way) flights, but clearly the idea of the project is to push a property perhaps more associated with high-end corporate or rich leisure travellers into mainstream social media channels.
Beautiful Destinations has four key accounts: the main account has 1.5 million followers, Beautiful Hotels has 425K followers, Beautiful Cuisines has 90K followers and Beautiful Matters has 50K followers.
Yet herein lies the challenge - does short-term buzz around something as social media-friendly as an Instameet really translate over time into hard bookings and a shift in clientele?