Abstract

This study examines which types of destination brand personality best align with virtual and human influencers’ posts to boost tourists’ travel intention. Through three scenario-based experiments, findings indicated that VIs are more effective with rational advertising messages, while HIs excel with emotional advertising messages in increasing tourists’ travel intentions. These relationships are mediated by imagery difficulty and perceived credibility. However, for destinations with an exciting personality, virtual influencers’ emotional posts are more impactful than rational ones. For sincerity-oriented destinations, results align with prior research. This study offers marketers insights into utilizing virtual influencers in advertising strategies based on brand personality.

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