Effects of the presentation of destination paradoxical features on tourists’ travel intention: the mediating role of destination personality clarity and personality originality with the moderating role of tourists’ experiences

ABSTRACT

Presenting paradoxical features of destinations can be used to shape a destination’s unique personality. However, paradoxical features are a double-edged sword, and few studies proposed effective strategies to avoid negative effects and enhance positive effects. We propose separate presentation of paradoxical features helps enhance the paradoxical characteristics. Personality clarity and personality originality respectively mediated the impact of joint and separate presentation of paradoxical features on travel intentions. Additionally, the moderating effects of tourists’ experience on the relationship between the presentation of paradoxical features and travel intentions are examined. Finally, theoretical implications, practical implications, and directions for future research are presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Destination feature
• paradox destination
• contradictory information
• destination marketing strategy
• presentation manner
• information processing
• destination personality
• personality appeal theory
• tourists’ experience
• tourists’ travel intention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [72002135].