The article's headline has a bit of a slant:

"Nearly four in ten respondents, 39%, admit they have visited a tourist site mainly to take a photo or video."

... That doesn't mean that it's just for social media

And the singular makes a huge difference there.

If I'm a hundred meters away from a tourist site that I'm not overly interested in but can snatch a quick picture to send to friends? Well sure. I'd admit to that.

I visited the world's largest paving stone in Brussels to grab a picture for a friend who had told me about it.

> For 18% of respondents, an obsession with photos and social media can be considered a red flag when choosing a travel companion.

This is the number that surprised me. I'd thought that would be much higher.

Yeah, it does, as this behaviour was unknown previously. A camera was an accessory, not the focus of your trip.

Amazed by the number of kids on this thread going “but it’s always been like this!” - much like they always assume I had social media as a kid. In the 80s.

point is still same, they visit the site not for the interest in site itself, but to take the photo and that's pretty stupid reason to visit any site, though yeah "mainly" is doing there some heavy lifting