Application of Communication-Persuasion Theory in Destination Marketing in the Post-Pandemic Era

This study aims to adopt McGuire’s communication-persuasion matrix as a theoretical lens for examining the effect of message appeal and message source on domestic tourists’ attitudes toward the message and the destination leading to their visit intention. Experimental design was applied in two studies. Study 1 examined the influences of tourist focused message appeal (self-benefit vs other-benefit) and destination focused message appeal (gain-framed vs loss-framed) on attitudes toward the message and the destination. Study 2 examined the effects of tourist focused message appeal (self-benefit vs other-benefit) and government information source (central government vs local government) on attitudes toward the message and the destination. Tourist self-benefit message appeal positively develops participants’ attitudes toward the message and the destination. Destination loss-framed message appeal has a stronger effect on participants’ attitudes toward the destination than the gain-framed message. Central government message source positively influences participants’ attitude toward the message. Finally, results show positive relationships among attitudes toward the message, the destination, and visit intention. Results also confirm attitude toward the destination mediates the relationship between attitude toward the message and visit intention. This study extends and broadens the knowledge of effective destination marketing communications in the post-pandemic era.