Publication Date

Summer 7-8-2021

Submission Type

Article

Abstract

Tourism is a storying and narrative experience that weaves multiple accounts about travel destinations, sites, and people into consumer expectations and perceptions of what is authentic in a travel experience (Chronis 2012a, Moscardo 2010, Bruner 2005). Story-telling narratives use the natural link of human experience often shared with others (Zhong et al. 2017, Mossberg 2008, McCabe and Foster 2006) and have become a helpful communication tool for understanding and promoting tourism (Zhong, Yun, Busser, and Baloglu 2017). Story-telling narration provides a valuable framework in which the destination is portrayed as believable and authentic to potential tourists (Kim and Yuon 2017).

Our research has two main objectives: 1.) to explore the influence of narrative video advertisements on perceptions of authenticity, and 2.) to determine the role of individual differences and their effects on perceptions of authenticity. Our study's two ads were specifically designed to feature attributes not commonly part of the City's authentic historical appeal. As such, the focus of the ads could be perceived as less authentic by the viewer. We examine the role of narrative story-telling in shaping positive perceptions of authenticity for advertisements that explore non-traditional tourism appeals. We further explore how the viewer's prior visits to the Cityinfluence perceptions of authenticity and subsequent ad effectiveness. The promotion of non-historic features was designed to influence repeat visits with something new to experience and potential visitors who might be more interested in non-historic experiences. Previous visitors might not be open to stories related to activities that were not necessarily related to their previous visits and find the ad less authentic but still respond to new experiences' potential.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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