Tourism slogan is a specific linguistic arrangement (communication) that translates a deep-rootedlocal value or perception (culture) into a persuasive invitation for an outsider. Perusing an ANEW(Affective Norms for English Words) database, this article calculates VAD (valence, arousal, anddominance) scores for 186 destinations’ tourism slogans and identifies three clusters. Theoretically,this article applies ANEW database to turn tourism slogans analysis into multivariate dataanalysis. It also lends empirical and quantitative support to literature that argues tourism slogansare strongly associated with affective qualities. Pragmatically, it helps to understand the thematicpatterns and linguistic features of tourism slogans. These findings may serve as general guidelinesin creating and selecting tourism slogans. Pedagogically, researchers could now leverage AI’s(artificial intelligence) coding capacity to develop their own research tools. Results indicate thattourism slogans have statistically significant higher valence (pleasure) and dominance (empowerment)scores than words of ANEW database. The top thematic patterns identified from tourismslogans are “action verbs,” “positive emotions,” and “nature.” The most prominent linguisticfeatures are “pronouns,” “sound device,” “figurative language,” “imperative,” and “personification.”Strategic promotional alliances between destinations based on cluster classifications areproposed.
This study investigates how ethnocultural nostalgia and the vividness of autobiographical memory influence revisit intention among domestic VFR (visiting friends and relatives) travelers in Mongolia. A field survey of 482 passengers on a long-distance train route was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that ethnocultural nostalgia has a significant impact on both the vividness of autobiographical memories and the intention to revisit them. Mediation analysis confirms that memory vividness partially mediates the relationship between nostalgia and revisit intention. These findings highlight the psychological and cultural dimensions of VFR travel. They demonstrate that revisit decisions are rooted in emotional and cognitive processes rather than purely functional factors. This research advances memory-centered tourism theory by introducing the “ethnocultural microdestination” framework. The study offers theoretical and methodological insights into the emotional and cognitive motivations for travel, contributing to deeper understanding of place attachment in emerging domestic tourism contexts.
This study explains how green hotel sustainability translates into choice, advocacy, and monetization in an emerging market. Using the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, we model perceived green practices as the stimulus, green image as the organism state, and stay intention, word-of-mouth (WOM), and willingness to pay a premium as responses. Survey data from 300 green hotel guests in Indonesia were analyzed using PLS-SEM. Perceived green practices strongly enhance green image, and green image increases stay intention and WOM. However, green image does not directly increase willingness to pay a premium. Instead, WOM significantly strengthens both stay intention and premium willingness, indicating that social endorsement is the key conversion mechanism that turns credence-based sustainability meaning into economic sacrifice. This asymmetric pattern clarifies why “green image → premium” effects are mixed in prior research and highlights the role of communicative validation in monetizing green esteem. Practically, hotels should prioritize visible, verifiable practices and design shareable proof points that stimulate WOM.
This study integrates Peirce’s semiotics with the theory of planned behavior, adopts a mixed-method approach, quantitatively analyzes questionnaire data (N = 620) using structural equation modeling (SEM), combines proxy variables with thematic coding (N = 320) to verify the theoretical path, and examines the impact of cultural souvenir design attributes on Chinese tourists’ purchasing behavior. Key findings include (1) all three design dimensions significantly increase purchase intention, ranked by influence as aesthetics > care and travel > unique; (2) “aesthetics” directly drives consumption through the visual appeal of iconic signs, “care and travel” enhances practicality via indexical signs, and “unique” activates cultural identity through symbolic signs, indirectly satisfying the need for “face consumption”; and (3) qualitative analysis suggests that “gift attributes” and “face value” are behavioral pathways from symbolic signs to subjective norms and are key optimization points under collectivist cultural values. Theoretically, this research develops an interdisciplinary framework. Practically, it recommends strategies such as symbolic–functional integration and tiered pricing to address homogeneity in China’s cultural tourism market, offering empirical insights for improving product competitiveness.
This study examines the transformative role of social media in tourist destination selection. Using a mixed-methods approach combining content analysis of 1,872 Xiaohongshu posts, fieldwork, and semistructured interviews, it investigates how social media mechanisms influence tourist decision making. Theoretically, the study draws on the concepts of the “digital gaze” and “visual hegemony” to account for a shift from traditional cultural appreciation to the pursuit of aesthetic symbols. The findings reveal a clear divergence between officially promoted sites and social media hotspots. Visually driven, experiential content on Xiaohongshu tends to overshadow traditional historical narratives. The results suggest that the platform functions as a “decision-making engine,” narrowing tourists’ experiential agency through algorithmic curation. This study contributes to tourism research by proposing a framework for understanding tourism dynamics in emerging urban contexts and offers strategic insights for policymakers seeking to align official narratives with tourist practices.
