The effectiveness of virtual versus human influencer marketing for tourism destinations

Abstract

The organisations that manage tourism destinations are increasingly working with influencers in their promotional campaigns. Our research analyses how effective the promotion of a destination is according to the type of influencer: human or virtual. We used a design of experiments approach in which 954 participants from generations Y and Z looked at posts of tourism destinations created by the two types of influencers on Instagram. The results suggest that source credibility, parasocial interaction, attitude towards the post and attitude towards the destination are antecedents, direct or indirect, of intention to travel to the destination and to recommend it. The results show that both types of influencers are effective at promoting the destinations, although it was also confirmed that a human influencer is more effective at promoting a destination than a virtual one. Therefore, this study has practical implications for tourism organisations.