STORYTELLING FORMAT AND DESTINATION CHOICE INTENTION: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF EMOTIONAL AROUSAL AND DESTINATION IMAGE

Abstract

Storytelling has emerged as an important narration strategy in tourism marketing. Destinations increasingly use narratives to create emotional engagement and influence tourists’ perceptions. However, limited research has examined how different storytelling formats affect tourists’ psychological responses and travel intentions. This study investigates the effect of storytelling format (digital vs. verbal) on destination choice intention and examines the mediating roles of emotional arousal and destination image. An experimental research design was employed in which participants were randomly exposed to either digital storytelling or verbal storytelling about a tourism destination. Data were collected from 768 respondents and analysed using independent samples t-tests and mediation analysis with the PROCESS macro. The results indicate that storytelling format does not significantly influence destination choice intention directly. However, storytelling format significantly affects emotional arousal. Mediation analysis further revealed that emotional arousal significantly mediates the relationship between storytelling format and destination choice intention. In contrast, destination image does not mediate this relationship. These findings suggest that storytelling primarily influences tourism decision making through emotional engagement rather than cognitive evaluation of destination image. The study contributes to tourism marketing literature by highlighting the psychological mechanisms through which storytelling influences tourist behaviour and provides practical insights for destination marketers seeking to design effective storytelling strategies.