Search Results (537)

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. Full article

Cultural destinations are discovered, interpreted, and evaluated through digital communication. However, studies examine communication factors independently, limiting understanding of how destination image develops within digital communication ecosystems and how communication conditions relate to cultural tourism intention. This study examines relationships among social influence, habit, price value, social media marketing activities (SMMA), user-generated content (UGC), electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), destination image, and cultural tourism intention. A sequential mixed-methods design integrated Fuzzy Delphi, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Data were collected from 680 Thai tourists who visited cultural destinations after exposure to tourism-related digital content. PLS-SEM showed habit had the largest path coefficient for cultural tourism intention, while UGC showed significant positive relationships with eWOM, destination image, and cultural tourism intention. Social influence, SMMA, and UGC were positively associated with eWOM, whereas price value, SMMA, UGC, and eWOM were positively associated with destination image. fsQCA highlighted the six highest-coverage configurations sufficient for high cultural tourism intention; UGC appeared in all six, while the remaining conditions acted as flexible complements. These findings highlight destination image co-creation within digital communication ecosystems and indicate high cultural tourism intention is associated with multiple configurations rather than a single pattern. Full article

Online cosmetic purchasing has expanded rapidly, yet understanding what sustains consumers’ intention to repurchase through online platforms remains challenging because continued purchasing reflects multiple product-related, marketing-related, experiential, and communication-related conditions. To examine these relationships, this research integrates the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design incorporated expert evaluation and a quantitative survey. In the expert-evaluation phase, 21 experts assessed the appropriateness and applicability of 38 measurement items using FDM, and all items satisfied the predetermined consensus criteria. The quantitative phase analyzed 736 valid responses from Thai consumers with prior experience purchasing cosmetics through online platforms. SEM results showed positive associations of Loyalty, Consumer Satisfaction, and electronic word-of-mouth with Repurchase Intention through Online Platforms (RI), with Loyalty exhibiting the largest standardized coefficient among the direct relationships. The fsQCA identified four sufficient configurations associated with high RI, with a solution consistency of 0.951 and solution coverage of 0.688, while no individual condition met the conventional necessity threshold. The configurational results demonstrate equifinality, indicating that high RI can be associated with different combinations of product-related, marketing-related, experiential, communication-related, and relational conditions. These findings extend prior research that has predominantly emphasized isolated net-effect relationships by showing how multiple conditions may operate jointly in explaining cosmetics repurchase intention through online platforms. Full article

The tourism industry plays a vital role in advancing the triple bottom line—economic, social, and environmental sustainability—through strategic marketing that enhances destination positioning and supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examines how marketing efforts in protected areas contribute to broader sustainability outcomes, with specific reference to the Sustainable Development Goals. Focusing on the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve, the research adopts a convergent parallel mixed-method approach to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing strategies implemented by the managing authority. Quantitative data were collected through 390 tourist questionnaires and analysed using SPSS and descriptive statistics, while qualitative insights were obtained from 10 in-depth interviews with key informants and analysed thematically. The findings reveal that the reserve’s marketing strategies are generally effective, accessible, and aligned with visitor expectations, with word of mouth and digital platforms emerging as key promotional tools. Marketing efforts were found to enhance conservation awareness and encourage responsible tourist behaviour, contributing particularly to SDGs 1, 8, 11, 13, and 15. However, infrastructure limitations and limited on-site activities constrain visitor stay and expenditure potential. The study concludes that while marketing plays a significant role in advancing sustainable tourism outcomes, strengthening infrastructure and diversifying visitor experiences could enhance the reserve’s contribution to sustainable development. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming hospitality by enhancing service efficiency and customer experiences through AI-enabled services, such as chatbots, automated check-in/check-out, recommendation systems, and intelligent self-service applications. This study investigates the factors shaping tourists’ behavioural responses to AI-enabled hotel services and their subsequent online review sharing behaviour. The proposed framework extends the Model of PC Utilization (MPCU) by integrating constructs from the Motivational Model and UTAUT2 with hospitality specific factors, including perceived ease of use, operational improvement, need for human interaction, perceived risk, perceived intelligence, and trust. A quantitative design and convenience sampling were employed, with data collected through a structured questionnaire from 400 tourists staying at a four-star hotel on a Greek island during summer 2025. Binary logistic regression was used to examine the proposed relationships. The findings demonstrate differentiated associations between tourists’ perceptions of AI-enabled services and positive and negative online review-sharing behaviour, highlighting the roles of ease of use, intelligence, trust, risk, and human interaction. The study contributes by linking AI service evaluations with post-consumption electronic word of mouth and provides practical guidance for combining trustworthy, user-friendly AI with personalized human service. Full article

The proliferation of livestream e-commerce has positioned gamification as a powerful factor of impulse buying. Extant studies have paid much attention to the positive affective reactions that are associated with gamification, yet whether and how gamification can impact impulse buying through negative affective states, such as fear of missing out (FoMO), has not been fully explored. Guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, this study develops a moderated mediation model to examine the conditional mediating effect of FoMO under two moderators, that is, perceived self-congruity and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Using a valid sample of 796 respondents in Indonesia, empirical results reveal that gamification significantly and positively affects impulse buying, with FoMO partially mediating this effect. Importantly, both perceived self-congruity and eWOM can significantly attenuate the link between gamification and FoMO. The indirect effect of gamification on impulse buying via FoMO becomes weaker when perceived self-congruity or eWOM levels are high. These findings contribute to existing literature by uncovering a negative affective pathway to impulse buying, and by identifying perceived self-congruity and eWOM as critical buffers that mitigate the effect of gamification on FoMO. The validated moderated mediation model offers a more granular understanding of when gamified tactics are less effective, helping practitioners advance the design of gamified strategies. Full article

This article investigates consumer distrust and outcomes through a model incorporating mediation and moderation in five-star luxury hotels. Relying on signaling theory, service-dominant logic, and institutional trust theory, this model theorizes six precursors of consumer distrust (pricing opacity, service inconsistency, AI and automation anxiety, review manipulation, data privacy concerns, and post-pandemic expectations) and four outcomes: non-return behavior, negative electronic word-of-mouth, brand avoidance, and defection intentions. Trust repair is examined as a moderator. PLS-SEM on a sample of 640 hotel guests supports the hypothesized relationships. Pricing opacity was identified as the leading driver of consumer distrust, while consumer distrust strongly influenced negative electronic word-of-mouth. Trust repair significantly moderated the relationships between consumer distrust and all four adverse behavioral outcomes, with the interaction patterns indicating that higher levels of trust repair strengthen the positive association between consumer distrust and these outcomes. These findings collectively advance a novel, theoretically integrated account of relationship erosion in luxury hospitality, offering actionable guidance for hotel managers, brand strategists, and policymakers operating in comparable emerging market destinations. Full article

Cultural festivals increasingly depend on digital channels to reach audiences, which makes the allocation of limited promotional resources a recurring management problem. This study examines how digital engagement shapes visitor satisfaction and revisit intention at a cultural tourism event, using the Vilnius Pink Soup Festival as a case. Five factors (social media, public website quality, electronic word of mouth (eWOM), festival expectations, and ICT usability) are tested as predictors of visitor satisfaction and revisit intention. The decision to model visitor-level rather than adoption-level outcomes follows the human-centric premise of Industry 5.0, which motivates the choice of dependent variables but is not itself operationalized or tested. Five factors (social media, public website quality, electronic word of mouth (eWOM), festival expectations, and ICT usability) are tested as predictors of visitor satisfaction and revisit intention. A quantitative survey of 384 attendees was analyzed in IBM SPSS Statistics 29 by ordinary least squares regression on composite construct scores, with mediation tested through the PROCESS macro (Model 4) using 5000 bootstrap resamples. Four of the five factors significantly influence satisfaction, with festival expectations exerting the strongest effect, followed by social media, public website quality and electronic word of mouth; ICT usability was not significant once website quality was accounted for. Satisfaction did not mediate the relationships between these antecedents and revisit intention; with the antecedents controlled, they predicted revisit intention directly, explaining 57.5% of its variance. No ticket revenue, visitor expenditure, marketing expenditure or sponsorship income was collected, and no financial outcome is tested here. The findings are therefore reported as evidence on visitors’ response, and their financial relevance—which channels organizers might prioritize when allocating promotional budgets—is developed as a managerial implication rather than as an empirical result. Full article

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in travel planning, yet limited research has examined how travelers evaluate AI-generated travel recommendations as an information source. This study examines travelers’ evaluations and behavioral intentions toward such recommendations, extending and contextualizing the Word-of-Machine (WOMa) perspective within tourism using an Information Adoption Model (IAM)-informed framework. An online survey of 485 U.S. respondents with prior experience using AI for travel planning measured trust, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, information presentation, and behavioral intention. Respondents generally evaluated AI-generated travel recommendations favorably, and all four predictors were positively associated with behavioral intention. The regression model explained 84.5% of the variance in behavioral intention (R² = 0.845), while demographic differences were observed, particularly across household-income groups. The study contributes to tourism research by extending the WOMa perspective to AI-generated travel recommendations and examining the factors associated with travelers’ willingness to use them. Practically, the findings highlight the importance of useful, trustworthy, clearly presented, and easy-to-use AI recommendations, while maintaining opportunities for verification and human judgment. Full article

In the contemporary AI-mediated digital landscape, digital literacy has emerged as a cornerstone competency for students and is closely associated with institutional perception. This study examines the relationship between students’ digital literacy—within the context of AI-integrated learning environments—on Higher Education Online Brand Equity (HEOBE), brand trust, brand affect, and electronic word of mouth (e-WOM). Utilizing a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework, data were collected from university students in Taiwan (N = 645) between January and February 2024. Statistical validation and hypothesis testing were performed using SPSS and AMOS. The results demonstrate that digital literacy in the AI era exerts a significant positive association with HEOBE, indicating that technologically proficient students within AI-integrated educational environments perceive higher value in a university’s digital brand. Furthermore, the four dimensions of HEOBE—institutional reputation, brand identification, brand loyalty, and campus perception—were found to exhibit significant positive associations with both brand trust and brand affect. Intriguingly, the study uncovers a behavioral dichotomy in word-of-mouth intentions: while brand affect is positively associated with e-WOM, brand trust shows an unexpected negative structural association with e-WOM. This suggests that while emotional attachment spurs advocacy, high cognitive trust may lead to “passive loyalty” in AI-driven digital spaces. These findings provide critical theoretical insights and practical benchmarks for higher education institutions seeking to optimize AI-augmented brand management and student engagement strategies. Full article

Although Generation Z is often considered more environmentally conscious, the tight schedules, travel across multiple locations, and limited resources characteristic of special forces-style tourism may make environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) difficult to implement. Previous studies have been destination-specific or have conceptualized digital planning factors as predictors of pre-trip decisions, without investigating cross-stage applicability. This paper combines the Stimulus Organism Response framework and the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate how destination image, social norms, and electronic word-of-mouth are related to ERB directly and indirectly through tourist engagement and perceived behavioral control where place identity is defined as a boundary condition. Survey data from 439 Chinese Generation Z tourists with prior experience of special forces-style tourism were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and observed-variable path analysis. Each of the three planning-stage inputs had positive direct relationships with ERB, as well as significant indirect relationships that acted via tourist engagement and perceived behavioral control. Place identity enhanced the electronic word-of-mouth–ERB and perceived behavioral control–ERB relationships. This paper makes three contributions; it develops a cross-stage conceptualization of ERB by connecting digital planning inputs to behavior in itinerary implementation, analytically disentangling psychological involvement and perceived behavioral feasibility, and recasting place identity as pathway-specific and not universal boundary condition. Full article

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming smart hotel services by simultaneously creating technological benefits and privacy-related concerns. Although previous studies have extensively examined the effects of AI and IoT on tourist experiences, they have predominantly adopted an individual perspective, with limited attention to potential interdependence among co-present guests. This study examines how technological benefits (AI usefulness, IoT convenience, and personalization) and technological risk (perceived privacy risk) are associated with tourists’ satisfaction and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention, while also investigating whether these outcomes exhibit dependence across social, spatial, and temporal structures of guest co-presence. The study draws on survey data collected from tourists staying in AI-and IoT-enabled hotels in Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia. The findings show that AI usefulness, IoT convenience, and personalization are positively associated with satisfaction and eWOM intention, whereas perceived privacy risk is negatively associated with both outcomes. Furthermore, technological benefit constructs exhibit significant positive indirect associations across guest co-presence structures, whereas privacy risk exhibits less consistently statistically significant indirect associations, particularly for eWOM intention. These findings indicate the coexistence of positive technology evaluations and privacy concerns and reveal different patterns of co-presence-associated interdependence rather than demonstrating that technological benefits statistically dominate privacy risks. These findings contribute to smart hospitality research by extending the benefit–risk perspective beyond exclusively individual-level evaluations and highlighting the importance of considering conditional interdependence among co-present guests when evaluating AI- and IoT-enabled hotel services. Full article

This study, based on social information processing theory (SIPT), investigates the relationships of Green Corporate Social Responsibility (Green CSR), innovation value co-creation, brand authenticity, brand perception, word-of-mouth intention (WOM) and purchase intention among Thai consumers. Four hundred Thai consumers with EV experience, information exposure, or purchase interest were surveyed. Data were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) in AMOS 24. The model explained 81.0% of the variance in brand perception, 51.0% in WOM, and 64.0% in purchase intention. Green CSR, innovation value co-creation, and brand authenticity were positively associated with brand perception, which was positively associated with WOM and purchase intention; WOM was also positively associated with purchase intention. Indirect-effect analysis linked Green CSR and innovation value co-creation with both outcomes through brand perception. Although its simple indirect associations were weaker, brand authenticity showed a significant serial indirect association with purchase intention through brand perception and WOM. However, the discriminant-validity results indicated empirical overlap among constructs, requiring cautious interpretation of the structural coefficients. EV familiarity did not significantly moderate the brand perception–purchase intention relationship. Because the data were cross-sectional, temporal ordering and causality cannot be established. Overall, the findings provide qualified support for SIPT in Thailand’s EV market. Full article

Medical tourism is among the fastest-growing segments of the global travel industry, and Taiwan’s internationally recognised healthcare system positions it well to compete in this market. Yet the companies best placed to lead this development have traditionally been identified through online word-of-mouth or personal recommendation rather than objective evidence, and performance criteria are rarely weighted to reflect both subjective opinion and objective data. This study addresses both gaps with a hybrid framework that uses main path analysis to identify, objectively, the companies most active in medical aesthetic technology, and integrates the Best–Worst Method (BWM), Entropy, Game Theory, and Grey-based TOPSIS to weight a four-dimensional, seventeen-criterion framework and rank company performance in medical tourism. An empirical application to seven Taiwanese companies engaged in medical aesthetics alongside medical tourism, drawing on industry expert assessments, shows that Service and Healthcare Resources is the most influential dimension, and that cloud-based customisation, multilingual personnel, and professional in-trip medical care are the most important criteria. Sensitivity analysis across nine weighting scenarios and comparison against four alternative ranking methods confirm the robustness of the ranking. The framework offers a replicable, objective template for evaluating medical tourism performance and provides managerial guidance for companies and policymakers seeking to strengthen Taiwan’s position in this market. Full article

This study aims to identify the key destination-related factors associated with tourists’ revisit behavior in peri-urban rural areas within Chinese metropolitan regions in the context of short-video marketing, and to reveal the structural relationships and hierarchical characteristics among these factors. First, the LDA topic model was employed to conduct text mining on authentic tourist-generated comments posted on Douyin, through which the core factors related to revisit behavior were identified and conceptually standardized based on tourists’ expressions. Building on this process, 153 experts in relevant fields were invited to evaluate the direction and strength of the relationships among these factors. An integrated DEMATEL–ISM–MICMAC approach was then applied to analyze their causal attributes, hierarchical structure, and systemic roles. The results indicate that the identified factors do not operate independently but instead form a multilayered structure with clear hierarchical characteristics. Among them, rural visual imagery, escape-oriented experience, rural lifestyle experience, and rural industry integration occupy deeper structural levels and exert relatively strong structural influences on factors located at intermediate and surface levels. The findings further suggest that the sustained attractiveness of rural tourism destinations in metropolitan regions cannot rely solely on short-video exposure or isolated “internet-famous” attractions; rather, it requires coordinated alignment among digital communication content, rural industries, lifestyle experiences, and tourism supply. By integrating tourist-generated content, natural language processing, and expert-based structural assessment, this study extends research on short-video tourism marketing from a systems perspective and provides practical insights for peri-urban rural destinations in Chinese metropolitan regions seeking to optimize the structural configuration of tourism resources, products and services, and marketing communication. Full article