Electronic Word-of-Mouth and Tourist Behavior: How Message Features and Destination Familiarity Shape Visit Intention
Keywords:
eWOM, visit intention, credibility, quality, vivacity, destination familiarityAbstract
Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become a pivotal factor influencing consumer behavior in the tourism sector. This study examines the direct effects of key eWOM message characteristics—credibility, quality, and vivacity—on tourists’ intention to visit a destination, while investigating the moderating role of destination familiarity. Building on the destination marketing literature, this research provides an integrative framework to understand how message-level factors interact with individual-level variables in shaping behavioral intentions.
Data were collected via an online survey administered to a sample of 411 respondents familiar with travel blogs. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using SPSS, and moderation effects were tested using Hayes’ PROCESS macro with 5,000 bootstrap samples. The results confirm that message credibility, quality, and vivacity each have a statistically significant and positive effect on visit intention. Furthermore, destination familiarity significantly moderates these relationships.
These findings highlight the importance for tourism marketers and travel content creators to tailor their communication strategies by considering not only the message design but also the audience’s prior knowledge and experiences.
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