Tracing emotional responses to nature-based tourism commercials and tagging individual sequences

Abstract

ABSTRACT Most tourism campaigns rely heavily on emotional appeals. Therefore, it is crucial to understand which video sequences elicit certain emotions to determine whether they are consistent with the targeted marketing objectives. In this study, we employ facial expression analysis to trace the emotional responses of participants watching a tourism destination commercial. Since previous studies did not process raw data on a moment-to-moment basis, and thus could not assess individual scenes, the present study highlights the importance of linking emotional responses with specific sequences of the ad, and most importantly, the composition of elements like structure, content, music, and images of nature-based tourism commercials. The presented methodology provides insights that help destination management organisations to adjust the content of commercials promoting nature-based tourism to achieve the desired emotional reactions with their marketing campaigns.