As the use of short-form tourism video (STV) advertisements grows in destination marketing, this study examines the persuasiveness of overt and covert forms of these advertisements. By leveraging the persuasion knowledge model, the research proposes a conceptual framework that underscores how advertising literacy activates audiences’ awareness of persuasive intent. It highlights the differing effects that overt and covert advertisements have on communication and persuasion, particularly in shaping how audiences perceive and respond to marketing messages. Furthermore, the study emphasizes how past experiences with advertisements significantly influence levels of advertising skepticism, leading to varying degrees of receptivity among viewers. The findings offer valuable insights for destination managers and marketers, suggesting how they can strategically use STVs to craft effective and engaging digital marketing campaigns. The research provides practical implications for improving persuasion tactics and enhancing audience engagement in the evolving landscape of tourism marketing.

Zen meditation tourism has gradually emerged in temples worldwide. This study examines the linear and nonlinear effects of push–pull motivations and constraints on revisit intentions in Zen meditation tourism, utilizing a combination of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). A total of 405 valid questionnaires were collected from Mount Emei, Sichuan. The PLS-SEM results indicate that motivations such as just for travel, physical and mental healing, seeking divine protection, self-development, Zen meditation environment and atmosphere, and Zen meditation activities all have a significant positive effect on tourists’ revisit intention, while external constraints exert a significant negative impact. However, no single antecedent variable could fully explain revisit intentions; instead, each variable must be considered in combination with other factors to generate high revisit intention. The fsQCA identified 11 distinct configurations that predict high revisit intention. This study offers valuable practical insights into the development of meditation tourism as a niche market.

This study investigates how Michelin-starred restaurants in Thailand can strategically configure their marketing mix to maximize customer value creation. Leveraging a novel integration of opinion-oriented language analysis and necessary condition analysis, we offer an innovative methodological framework for aligning marketing communications with customer perceptions. Our two-step text analysis of TripAdvisor reviews and restaurant-generated content reveals critical linguistic patterns across five core marketing mix elements—product, price, place, promotion, and people—guiding the development of more authentic and resonant messaging. Necessary condition analysis results pinpoint product, people, process, and physical evidence as essential conditions for achieving high customer satisfaction, supported by robust consistency (0.996) and coverage (0.672) metrics. Further analysis using SmartPLS defines precise threshold levels required for each element to yield varying degrees of satisfaction. Strikingly, only 4 out of 35 restaurants exhibit strong alignment between their marketing narratives and customer feedback, revealing a significant opportunity gap. By bridging linguistic alignment with empirical necessity, this research delivers actionable insights for luxury restaurant operators seeking to enhance strategic content development, optimize marketing investments, and foster deeper customer engagement in premium dining experiences.

In response to the growing complexity of consumer choices, there has been a noticeable shift towards experiential marketing in travel destinations. This study focuses on Catalonia, Spain, and Veneto, Italy, examining how tourism institutions adapted communication to emphasise experiential appeals in the pre-travel phase. Using a content analysis of posts from Twitter-X, this study examines communication trends in aligning tourism products with the tourist experience, using pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic periods as reference points. Although there have been attempts to diversify product categories, pre-pandemic categories remain dominant, limiting the comprehensive portrayal of tourism product offerings. This research proposes a framework for aiding pre-travel communication planning, advocating for the alignment of online branding of destinations with the projected destinations’ image based on experience dimensions and components.

Travel souvenirs, as vital vessels of cultural memory and emotional significance, are increasingly emerging as important factors in stimulating travel motivation. This study investigates the impact of perceived coolness of travel souvenirs on the travel intentions of Chinese millennials, China's largest consumer group. Using cognitive appraisal and self-congruity theories, data from 350 respondents were analyzed through a partial least squares structural equation model. The research findings indicate that the perceived coolness of travel souvenirs exerts a strong positive influence on travel intentions. Psychological ownership and the relationship between perceived coolness and travel intentions is mediated by the fear of missing out, while destination awareness positively moderates the connections between perceived coolness, psychological ownership, fear of missing out, and travel intentions. These findings provide important insights for tourism companies and destination managers, indicating that enhancing the coolness of souvenir designs and increasing consumers’ destination awareness can effectively stimulate millennials’ travel intentions, further unleashing tourism consumption potential and fostering the long-term growth of tourism industry.

Understanding the needs of different customers for hotel attributes is crucial. Most previous studies referred to the theory of uncertainty in expectations to understand the differences in customer needs, but no systematic discussion has been conducted on the magnitude and causes of these differences. This study is based on role theory and explores the formation of heterogeneity in customer attributes from different types of attention. We used 171,418 online review comments from 215 hotels to determine the heterogeneity of hotel attributes and the attention of different types of customers to hotel attributes. We found heterogeneity in the level of attention to hotel attributes among different types of customers and customers from different regions, and the priority of attributes varies among different types of customers. This study emphasizes the role of social factors in shaping customer preferences and offers practical insights for hotel managers. By addressing customer diversity and cultural differences in preferences. This study helps hotel managers tailor their services for different customer segments. Especially the findings provide recommendations on resource allocation and service improvements to increase customer satisfaction. Helping hotels thrive in a competitive and culturally diverse market.

Despite the growing influence of Tourist Check-in Short Videos (TCSVs) on social media platforms, understanding how these videos shape visit intentions remains a gap in the literature. Drawing on the Interaction Ritual Chain (IR) theory, we investigate how the interaction ritual sense of TCSVs shapes viewers’ visit intentions. Through a mixed-methods research design with qualitative (Study 1) and quantitative (Study 2) studies, this research uncovers a positive correlation between the interaction ritual sense and visit intention. The findings indicate that the interaction ritual sense significantly enhances visit intentions, with perceived value and benign envy emerging as critical mediators. This research extends the IR theory into the virtual realm, highlighting the ritualistic nature of TCSVs and their capability to influence viewers’ cognition and behavior. It also provides practical insights for tourism marketers, underscoring the strategic integration of interaction ritual elements in TCSVs to stimulate viewers’ engagement and foster visit intentions.

This study compares and contrasts the motives and information search patterns of domestic and international tourists visiting a popular tropical destination area in northern Australia. The study is framed within Pearce's Travel Career Pattern model that considers the role of a basket of core, middle tier extrinsic, middle tier intrinsic and outer tier motives in making trip decisions. Core motives of novelty, escape and relaxation were important to both groups but were more important to the domestic market. Middle tier extrinsic motives associated with nature influenced the international market, while domestic tourists were more likely to identify middle tier intrinsic motives as influencing their visit decision. Additionally, information sources used by domestic and international tourists in pre-destination and in-destination searches varied based on geographic origin and previous visit histories. Interestingly, while people shopped online, many preferred to buy only after face-to-face communications with suppliers. This study provides deeper insights into visitors’ destination selection and information search, highlighting the practical implications for destinations to more effectively utilise limited resources to target their marketing, both pre-visit and in-destination.

Advertising is closely associated with tourists' awareness of local culture. Unreasonable advertising content may raise tourists’ concerns about cultural distortion, thus negatively affecting the destination image. However, how to design advertising content to mitigate tourists' cultural distortion perceptions remains unclear. Therefore, this study examines the effects of different types of advertising content (promotional vs experiential) on tourists' cultural distortion risk perceptions employing three scenario-based experiments. Findings reveal that promotional advertising content increases tourists' cultural distortion risk perceptions by inducing their perceived commercialization, while experiential advertising content mitigates it by boosting perceived essence. Tourists with low cultural heritage site familiarity are more susceptible to advertising content's influence, whereas those with high familiarity have no significant difference in cultural distortion risk perceptions. This research elucidates the mechanism by which heritage tourism advertising influences tourists' cultural distortion risk perceptions, thereby contributing to advertising strategies in cultural heritage tourism and fostering cultural sustainability. The findings also offer practical guidance for fostering positive psychological perceptions among tourists and shaping the cultural image of cultural heritage sites.

Adventure tourism is considered a cornerstone of the tourism industry by United Nations Tourism and has experienced rapid growth before the COVID-19 pandemic. This growth was facilitated by ever more diversified consumer demand for adventure tourism, with a fusion of traditional Western and emerging Eastern markets that increasingly seek active outdoor experiences. Yet, research examining consumers’ adventure tourism perceptions and factors influencing their decision-making across cultures remains scarce. This qualitative study engages 67 participants, comparing the perceptions and attitudes towards adventure tourism among Chinese youth in comparison to their Australian and German counterparts. The findings of this study contribute an in-depth understanding of adventure tourism and youth consumer behaviour, highlighting the crucial role of culture in shaping intentions to engage in adventure tourism. Practically, the study offers valuable insights for marketing and product design strategies that consider culturally diverse values, attitudes, and behaviours.