From Story to Action: Affective Pathways to Engagement in Tourism Video Advertising

Tourism destination marketers increasingly rely on video advertising, yet the psychological mechanisms linking perceived advertising design and destination familiarity to engagement remain underspecified in tourism contexts. Drawing on narrative transportation and advertising stimulation perspectives, this study examines how perceived advertising design and destination familiarity relate to narrative transportation and advertising stimulation, and how these mechanisms relate to engagement. Using a survey of 915 Portuguese respondents and structural equation modeling in AMOS, we estimate a model comprising advertising design, destination familiarity, narrative transportation, advertising stimulation, and engagement. Results show that perceived advertising design is positively associated with narrative transportation (β = 0.451, p < 0.01) and advertising stimulation (β = 0.158, p < 0.01). Destination familiarity is also positively associated with narrative transportation (β = 0.215, p < 0.01) and advertising stimulation (β = 0.104, p < 0.01). Narrative transportation is strongly associated with advertising stimulation (β = 0.659, p < 0.01), whereas narrative transportation does not show a significant direct association with engagement (β = 0.086, n.s.). Advertising stimulation is positively associated with engagement (β = 0.288, p < 0.01). Findings suggest that, in this context, affective activation (stimulation) may be a more proximal correlate of self-reported engagement than narrative immersion alone, warranting careful interpretation given the cross-sectional, self-report design.