Bring the destination closer to consumers: The impact of using dynamic objects in different types of tourism destination ads

Previous research has investigated the matching effects between the spatial or temporal distance with the semantic meanings or format of the stimuli in tourism advertising. This research examined whether including a dynamic object can enhance the effectiveness of tourism destination ads. The results showed that placing dynamic objects can directly reduce perceived physical distance between the ad viewer and the advertised destination, which further reduces the ad viewer’s psychological distance and increases the visiting intention. Destination type has a moderation effect on the relationship between perceived physical distance and psychological distance, such that this relationship is stronger for cultural (vs. natural) destination. The indirect effect of object presentation (no object vs. still object. vs. dynamic object) on visiting intention is moderated by destination type, such that the indirect effect between dynamic object ad on visiting intention is stronger for cultural (vs. natural) destination. Furthermore, implications and limitations are discussed.