The Effect of Confirmation of Nation Brand Image in International Tourism Advertisement on Travel Intention of Foreign Tourists: The Case of Korean ITA for Chinese Tourists

Abstract

With the rapid growth of the international tourism industry, governments and tourism promotion agencies in various countries challenge to make more attractive international tourism advertisement (ITA) for foreign tourists to visit their countries. However, there may be difference in the degree to which each travel advertisement reflects the nation brand image. In some ITA cases, foreign tourists could not vividly highlight the unique images of the destination countries. Few studies have empirically validated the impact of confirmation of nation brand image in ITA on the tourist’s responses. This study challenged to empirically examine how the fit between the ITA contents and nation brand image affects the travel intentions of foreign tourists. I developed my research model based on the literature of country image, brand advertisement fit model, and expectation confirmation theory. I conducted the quasi-experiment by using 4 examples of ITA which reflect 4 unique images of Korea (i.e. K-Food, Korean wave, shopping, hot place) compared with other countries. Totally 276 valid data were collected and analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) algorithm. The results indicate that confirmation of nation brand image in ITA significantly increase perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment. These changes could increase tourist’s satisfaction, ITA adoption intention, destination visit intention, and E-word of mouth intention. The findings of this study could contribute to identify the impacts on the nation brand image in ITA and could provide practical lessons on how to make more persuasive ITA.

Consumer Perceived Service Quality and Purchase Intention: Two Moderated Mediation Models Investigation

“…Past research found a BI effects consumer purchasing decisions, and many firms have invested heavily to build brand image. Consumers believe products with a high BI may enhance their self-image and achieve the role of promotion (Lee, 2021). Donnelly et al (2020) used UK fashion products as research products.…”

The destination marketing and media profile – travel motives nexus amid tourism crisis: the mediating effect of the nation brand

“…A notion also hypothesised by Pawaskar and Goel (2016) posits that information symmetry touchpoints influence the extrinsic travel motives of tourists by attracting them to specific destinations based on their attributes. The extant of literature (Avraham, 2020;Lee, 2021b;Lee et al, 2022;Matiza and Slabbert, 2020) also corroborates the NB's direct effect on tourist's travel motives, submitting that public perceptions of a country [via the NB] are a significant antecedent to tourists' conative behaviour, including their travel motives. This evidence aligns with the demand-oriented The destination marketing and media profile TE-A perspective of NB theory which supports the notion of inherent organic perceptions towards countries potentially exerting a direct predictive effect on consumptive decisionmaking.…”

Nation Branding and Its Roles in Shaping Domestic Travel Behaviour: A New Zealand Perspective

“…Also, as identified earlier, nation branding and its role in shaping travel intention has been explored extensively (e.g., Chaulagain et al, 2019;Lee, 2021;Wu, 2017). When it comes to nation branding affecting other travel decisions however, a research gap becomes apparent.…”

“…The nation's own population have the greatest insight into their own country thus it is surprising that their perceptions of the nation have not been paired with the nation brand to determine its representativeness. Even the outcomes of nation branding tend to be explored externally rather than internally (e.g., Anholt, 1998;Fan, 2006;Lee, 2021). That is, while nations may understand the attitudinal and behavioural effects of branding their country for international audiences, the same attention has not been paid to understanding the effects of this for the nation's own population.…”

“…Put differently, do those who agree with a nation's brand act in accordance with what their nation's brand promotes when travelling domestically? A tourism lens is applied as although country and destination images can affect travel decisions (Kotler & Gertner, 2002;Tan & Wu, 2016), academic literature rarely focuses on those besides travel intention (e.g., Chaulagain et al, 2019;Lee, 2021;Wu, 2017).…”