This paper examines the intellectual structure of research addressing digital influence and consumer decision-making in tourism through a bibliometric approach. Using keyword cooccurrence analysis, the study examines a dataset of 1,008 peer-reviewed articles retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection and analysed with VOSviewer to identify dominant thematic patterns within the literature. The findings indicate an interconnected thematic structure organised around three clusters: online review environments, electronic word-of-mouth and destination perception, and the informational credibility of user-generated content. The analysis highlights the central role of digitally mediated content as the primary entry point of influence, the mediating function of trust and credibility, and the positioning of behavioural intentions as cumulative outcomes of these mechanisms.

This study integrates the fragmented literature on digital influence in tourism and hospitality by combining a bibliometric analysis with a PRISMA 2020-guided systematic literature review (SLR), examining how creator-mediated, peer-mediated, and platform-mediated influence jointly shape the customer decision journey. Scopus was searched (last searched 19 May 2026) for English-language articles and reviews addressing tourism or hospitality and at least one digital-influence mechanism, published 2010–May 2026; 906 records met these criteria and were retained for bibliometric analysis. A further eligibility criterion—direct examination of relationships among digital-influence sources, consumer appraisal, and decision outcomes, restricted to 2020–May 2026—narrowed this to 117 studies selected for structured evidence coding, with study design classified using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). The corpus grew sharply after 2019 (84.1% of records), and bibliographic coupling and keyword co-occurrence analysis identified four research fronts and five thematic clusters spanning the three influence channels. Building on this structure and a Stimulus–Organism–Response basis, the study proposes a Tri-Channel Digital Influence Framework formalized into seven research propositions (P1–P7). Evidence coding shows consumer-appraisal and decision-progression pathways (P4) are most extensively evidenced (64 studies), while cross-channel interaction (P5, 3 studies) and post-consumption feedback (P7, 4 studies) remain the least tested, representing the main evidence gaps. To our knowledge, this is the first study to integrate all three channels into a single, evidence-based decision-journey framework, offering an integrative theoretical architecture and a specific, evidence-based agenda for future research that current single-construct reviews of eWOM or influencer marketing do not provide.

Increasingly, hotel guests form expectations about their stay based on content that is available through digital channels before they arrive, while at the same time hotels are incorporating digital technologies into the services they provide on site; however, these two aspects have mostly been examined in isolation, and the combined impact of them on the multisensory impression associated with satisfaction and loyalty has not yet been thoroughly investigated. The present study proposes and tests a structural model in which the influence of digital content is associated with tourists’ sensory expectations prior to their arrival, and this, together with the degree of digital service integration, is associated with the multisensory experience reported during the stay, which in turn is associated with visitor satisfaction and loyalty via both direct and indirect paths. Data from 553 Romanian tourists were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling, and the full and partial mediation models were compared by means of a nested chi-square test. All six hypotheses were confirmed. The partial mediation model provided superior fit (Δχ²(1) = 162.53, p < 0.001), and the direct effect of Multisensory Experience on Loyalty (β = 0.561) substantially exceeded the satisfaction-mediated indirect path (β = 0.119), while Digital Content Influence was the strongest single predictor in the model (β = 0.785 on Sensory Expectations). This research extends both servicescape theory and expectation-confirmation theory to the context of digitally mediated hospitality, with practical relevance for hotel managers and digital travel platforms regarding the joint role of pre-arrival content and on-site digital infrastructure associated with the guest experience, and potential, though untested, implications for destination-level standards relating to review authenticity and content quality.

The increasing reliance on digital information environments has transformed how tourism consumers evaluate services characterized by high intangibility and perceived risk. This article develops a conceptual framework that systematizes digital influence in tourism by integrating creator categories with content typologies and key stages of the tourism purchase decision process. Drawing on recent empirical and meta-analytic research, the model distinguishes four transversal content orientations-informational, affective/entertainment, authenticity-signalling, and evaluative/comparative - that operate across different types of digital creators. These orientations reduce uncertainty, shape perceptions of credibility, and support the evaluation of alternatives and final choice. By clarifying the distinction between “who communicates” and “how content influences”, the framework provides a structured foundation for empirical operationalization and managerial strategy in tourism marketing.