Narrative marketing: does storytelling drive destination loyalty and sustainability?

This study advances tourism research by revealing how storytelling in tourism performing arts generates destination relational value, a crucial driver of loyalty and sustainable visitation. Moving beyond traditional focuses on service quality and emotional attachment, it emphasizes narrative-based cultural performances as influential social cues that shape tourists’ relational judgments. The framework demonstrates that entertainment experience and cultural identity jointly mediate the relationship between storytelling and relational value, while digital technologies enhance relational bonds rather than merely sensory enjoyment – a nuance rarely addressed in prior studies. Theoretically, the study extends Social Information Processing Theory by illustrating how cultural narratives engage cognitive, emotional, and identity processes. Methodologically, the combination of structural equation modeling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis uncovers multiple equifinal pathways to relational value beyond linear causality. Practically, the findings offer actionable guidance for destinations to leverage storytelling and digital tools to strengthen cultural resonance and foster loyalty.