Abstract:
Although TikTok recently emerged as a travel marketing medium, how TikTok
influences tourists' perceptions of travel experience and travel intention remains
unclear. This paper addresses this void by constructing a structural model that
delineates the mechanism by which the involvement of social media influencers
with TikTok influences tourists' travel intention through authenticity and
destination image. Following the positivism research philosophy and deductive
research approach, a questionnaire survey is administered. The questionnaire
was distributed among 384 tourists, and data was analyzed using partial least
squares- structural equation modelling. Findings revealed that social media
influencers' involvement with TikTok increases object-based and existential
authenticity and cognitive and affective images of travel experience, ultimately
influencing travel intention. Moreover, object-based and existential authenticity
and cognitive and affective images of travel experiences mediate the link
between social media influencers' involvement with TikTok and tourists’ travel
intentions. The results add to tourism marketing literature by blending
authenticity with the cognitive-affective model in the context of TikTok travel
marketing in Sri Lanka.
