A Study on the Application of Narrative Transportation in Storytelling Tourism Marketing Communication in Taiwan

Abstract

In recent years, interactive multimedia guides have become increasingly common in museums, exhibition spaces, and tourist attractions. Over the past decade, Hsin Beitou government and local residents have launched a series of reform movements for local tourism. During the research process, it was found that the current planning of attractions lacks pre-tour guidance and itinerary arrangements. In on-site surveys, tourists expressed uncertainty about the route guidance of the attractions, and their itineraries usually began upon arrival at the destination or by searching for fragmented video materials beforehand. Through this research, the design of different types of videos, including narrative attraction animation videos, influencer videos focusing on attractions, and videos solely introducing attractions, were explored to investigate their impact on viewer attitudes and travel motivations.Previous studies have mainly focused on one-sided tourism discussions. This thesis, however, conducted field surveys, preliminary studies, and interviews to connect cultural and historical tourist attractions into a complete narrative-guided video. Drawing on literature research and analysis of narrative transportation theory, story-based tourism marketing, and video tourism, the thesis designed a video that provides clear and concise travel guidance, saving tourists' time. The 3 types of videos, including narrative animated tour video, influencer tour video and attraction introduction video were provided for tourists to explore the impact of these 3 videos on their travel motivations and the narrative transportation effectiveness. The study employed a questionnaire based on the narrative transportation theory and Likert 5-point scale to understand the satisfaction of the participants with the narrative-guided video and their motivation to visit the attractions.Based on literature research, this study connected significant attractions of Hsin Beitou area to create a narrative-guided video called "Hsin Beitou Healing Notebook". The content of the video was designed according to Gerrig's TIM scale, which includes The TIM scale included 11absorption propensity items and one imagery ability item capturing its major dimensions of cognitive, affective, and imagery involvement. The narrative of the video focused on a Japanese wounded soldier revisiting old sites in Hsin Beitou and recalling his experiences of healing after World War II. From this narrative, nine highlights of Hsin Beitou tourism were identified. The study applied narrative transportation theory to tourism, examining the impact of video design on tourists' travel motivations, using narrative-guided video design as the research method.