An empirical research on how travel videos on tiktok affect post-pandemic travel intentions of young people

Abstract

The tourism industry experienced a severe crisis due to Covid-19 pandemic, leading travel activities to be suspended. With the development of social media, travel videos especially on TikTok emerge prevalently. These videos share personal experiences which help travel destinations become more appealing. We targeted to analyze the effect of travel videos on TikTok on the travel intention of young people in the post-pandemic. This study addressed both cognitive and emotional components of the travel video watching experience, drawing on the theory of resonance and planned behavior. On data acquired from 335 survey samples, including 305 valid responses from Vietnamese young people in the age range of 18 - 23 and 24 - 30, the measurement and structural models were analyzed by using AMOS. The study's findings demonstrated that cognitive and emotional elements have a favorable effect on electronic word of mouth (eWOM), which leads to the destination of one's thought. Furthermore, destination image is negatively influenced by the ability of perceived Covid-19 risk when traveling, leading to the intention to travel of young people. This study conducted in the period called “new normal life” that all industries come back after social distancing, including tourism. The context of research provides information on how pandemic anxiety affects people's travel plans. In addition, the study clarifies the insight of potential tourists for travel professionals and destination marketers. They'll need to devise tactics to create video content and engage better eWOMs as well as to recover the tourism industry in the post-pandemic period.