Multimedia Electronic Word-of-Mouth and Sense of Place: Tourism Marketing for Macau in the Post-Pandemic Era

Abstract

It is a crucial question for local governments and managers of tourism destinations to strategically restore tourism in the post-pandemic era. Taking Macau, a famous tourism city as a case study, this paper explored the underlying mechanism of visitors’ visit intention. We utilized multimedia electronic word-of-mouth (MeWOM) as a strategic marketing tool for the hospitality and tourism industry and established a theoretical framework. We proposed a sense of place as a mechanism to explain the effect of MeWOM on visit intention. In addition, we examined tourists’ perceptions in the post-pandemic context, including perceived sudden lockdown, psychological resilience, and state boredom as moderators. The present research provides implications for tourism marketing and managerial practices.