The marketing of destination distinctiveness: the power of tourism short videos with enjoyability and authenticity

ABSTRACTTourism short videos are increasingly being utilized to promote tourism development and differentiate destinations through electronic word-of-mouth. This study explores the association between the perception of destination distinctiveness through tourism short videos (PDD) and electronic word-of-mouth on destination image (eWOM-DI), as online short videos gain more popularity. Drawing on the emotional appraisal theory, the study investigates how PDD affects eWOM-DI through concentration as a mediator and enjoyability and authenticity as moderators. The findings indicate that PDD has a direct and indirect effect on eWOM-DI through concentration. Additionally, the study reveals that higher levels of enjoyability or authenticity can strengthen the positive effects of PDD on concentration and eWOM-DI. These results provide valuable insights for effectively promoting destination distinctness through electronic word-of-mouth elicited by tourism short videos with enjoyability and authenticity.KEYWORDS: Perception of destination distinctivenessconcentrationelectronic word-of-mouthenjoyabilityauthenticityemotion appraisal theory Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Youth Project of National Social Science Foundation, China: [Grant Number 20CGL022]. (Jie Yin); National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan: [Grant Number NSTC 112-2410-H-032-047] (Yensen Ni).