When Climate-Induced Change Reaches Social Media: How Realistic Travel Expectations Shape Consumers’ Attitudes toward the Destination

Abstract

The Web 2.0 has significantly changed how consumers plan for and book trips. For example, online content showing climate-induced, unfavorable conditions at a destination might influence overall attitudes toward that destination. Two experimental studies confirm that when consumers learn of unfavorable conditions in a destination (e.g., snow deficiency) through online content, they develop more realistic travel expectations and ultimately more positive attitudes toward the destination, compared with when they review online content that ignores the unfavorable conditions. In addition, user-generated content influences the mediating effect of realistic expectations on the relationship between climate-induced, unfavorable conditions at a destination and attitudes toward the destination, whereas DMO-generated content does not. Implications underline the importance of realistic destination marketing communication strategies. The study contributes to the understanding of consumer response to realistic social media content in tourism.