Effectiveness of destination advertising to potential tourists has been enhanced with the use of personalized orientation. After an online search for information about a destination, individuals are exposed to advertisements related to the destination on their social media newsfeed. However, further understanding is warranted in terms of how these destination messages should be crafted. Thus, our research aims to uncover how destination advertising design, message appeal type, and language abstraction level interact with a message recipient’s psychological distance to his or her trip to influence consumer response to the advertising. Based on construal level theory, we conducted a scenario-based experiment, using manipulated messages and psychological distance state to assess message effectiveness. The findings show that the type of message design respondents favor can vary either by perceived temporal distance to their travel plans or spatial distance to the travel destination.
Travelers’ engagement with local food at a foreign destination could be overwhelming and affect their overall travel experience. This study investigates the role travelers’ psychological comfort with local food plays in influencing the development of their place attachment to a destination. The study utilized survey data sampled from Korean and American travelers who had visited China and found that travelers’ place attachment is positively and significantly influenced by their psychological comfort with food, interaction with service providers, and atmospherics. The findings also reveal that Korean and American travelers differ in the degree to which comfort affects their place attachment. These and other findings of the study bring attention to the comfort factor of travelers’ food experience, thus complementing previous research that tended to emphasize the novelty value of local cuisines.
15 January 2024 in International Journal of Tourism Research
The MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) industry consists of various stakeholders and their collaboration is essential in achieving the success of the entities involved. Yet, limited attention has been paid in the literature to examining cooperation among them. Thus, this research intends to understand the impact of social capital on supply chain integration in the MICE industry and the influence of supply chain integration on corporate performance and MICE destination competitiveness. Based on purposive sampling to recruit respondents working in the MICE industry in Busan, Korea, surveys were distributed online and offline. A total of 158 valid samples were utilized for data analysis, in which partial least squares (PLS)-SEM was conducted. According to the results of this study, relational and cognitive social capital affects supply chain integration and enhanced supply chain integration leads to higher corporate performance and destination competitiveness. The findings unearth novel understanding regarding the importance and function of collaboration among stakeholders in the MICE industry, from the perspective of social capital and supply chain integration, that offers valuable theoretical and practical implications.