Strong destination logos can influence tourists’ attitudes and their willingness to visit. Destination marketing organizations should carefully design their logos. The present study explores the effectiveness of logo complexity on tourists’ travel intentions. The study hypotheses are developed based on the theoretical concepts of tourist self-congruity. We conducted two experiments, collecting data from a total of 940 participants. Findings show that complex (vs. simple) logos increase arousal and travel intentions when matched with tourists’ exciting (vs. calm) self-concept. This effect is moderated by the destination slogan: congruent slogans strengthen the impact, while incongruent ones weaken it. These results underscore the importance of aligning visual and verbal cues with tourists’ self-perceptions.
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