What Makes You Palpitate With Excitement? The Differentiation Effect and Mechanism of Message Appeal in Tourism Short Videos

How destinations use tourism short videos to stand out in the fierce digital market is crucial. Based on the “cognitive-affective-conative” theoretical model, this study investigates the differential effects and mechanisms of tourism short video message appeal on users’ travel intention by conducting three experiments. The findings show that: emotional appeal (vs. rational appeal) is more likely to stimulate users’ travel intention, and telepresence, interest arousal and attitude toward the destination play the mediating roles. Moreover, high-narrative tourism short videos have stronger emotional appeal effects on users’ telepresence and travel intention. However, there was no significant difference in the effect of the two message appeals in low-narrative tourism short videos. This study reveals the differential influences of various message appeals, highlights the synergistic and complementary effects of interest arousal and attitude toward the destination, and provides practical insights to design attractive tourism videos.