Examining the effectiveness of a tourism–agriculture co-marketing alliance: an empirical study of fit and fit priming

Abstract

The relationship between places and products has been acknowledged in tourism and marketing. Nonetheless, limited empirical research has sought to understand this association from a co-marketing perspective. Based on categorisation, meaning transfer and consistency theories, this study focuses on three types of benefit-based fit to assess fit’s role in a tourism–agriculture co-marketing context. Using a quasi-experimental approach with a sample of 1,000 potential tourists, this study found that functional, symbolic, and experiential fit positively influenced both place and product attitudes. Furthermore, functional and symbolic fit directly informed tourists’ desire to visit a place or purchase a product; experiential fit only affected product desire through favourable product attitudes. This study also explored the impact of fit priming within a co-marketing context and indicated that symbolic fit played significant roles in tourists’ attitudes and desires when primed. Implications for tourism co-marketing practices are discussed in the end.