Influencer attributes and characterizations on Tourists' intention to revisit destination in social media influencer marketing

Social media influencer marketing has recently received significant attention. However, this kind of social media influencer marketing has not been fully demonstrated in the context of tourism destination management/marketing. This study developed a research model based on the theory of persuasion, consisting of three influencer attributes and three characterizations as antecedents of revisit intention to destination. Data were collected through an experimental survey for respondents who live in Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Here, two YouTubers (a man and a woman) created each tourism promotion video about one Kyoto cuisine restaurant in Kyoto. Respondents were assigned to a group to watch one of the videos, and after watching the video, they answered questions about the YouTuber and their intention to visit the tourist destination via a web questionnaire. The study found that PSR (Parasocial relationship) had a significantly positive impact on revisit intentions to destination relative to other characterizations on all groups. But the personal attributes positively related to PSR differed depending on the YouTubers and the respondents' place of residence. Therefore, tourism video marketing strategies utilizing social media influencers in destination marketing need to be fine-tuned based on the influencer's personal attributes, and characterizations considering the targets' place of residence.