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Storytelling in the communication of dark tourism

Storytelling in the communication of dark tourism This study aims to tap into the storytelling’s effects of evoking personal and historical memories and their emotions on travelers’ intention to visit dark tourism sites.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental study was performed. The authors created a story centered on dark tourism as their stimulus. The respondents received two stories in the form of printed ads. The presence and absence of a story character manipulated the stimulus. In addition to the experimental factors, four measurement constructs were included in the model: evoked historical memory, evoked personal memory, evoked emotion and intention to visit.FindingsThe results show that evoking historical and personal memories leads to traveler intention to visit the dark tourism sites whether or not the character is present or absent in the story. This study also reveals that only evoked personal memory positively affects individuals’ travel by evoking emotion. Furthermore, evoked historical memories also directly impact the evoke emotion, but only when the character is absent in the story.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has three limitations. First, the measurement of emotion in this study only refers to a general measurement and does not specify between negative and positive emotions. Second, the story in the current study only focuses on one example of a natural disaster. Third, this study only used students to represent Generation Z respondents, so it would be interesting if future research compared the results across different generations.Practical implicationsThe use of a reflective narrative in storytelling can be one of the options. Marketers should be cautious when using a character when it comes to dark tourism as it might have a boomerang effect, making the destination becoming unattractive to travelers, particularly, if the story tells more about the historical side of dark tourism. Managers of tourist destinations can leverage past visitors to be brand ambassadors of a place since humans share knowledge and experiences through stories and anecdotes. These personal touches can lend the personal aspects of past visitors to current ones, which can evoke memories better than an official message from a tourism board.Originality/valueThis research investigates the role of storytelling in eliciting travelers’ memories and emotional responses and how this response eventually influences their intention to visit a dark-based destination. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality Emerald Publishing

Storytelling in the communication of dark tourism

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
2752-6666
eISSN
2752-6674
DOI
10.1108/cbth-06-2021-0152
Publisher site
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Abstract

This study aims to tap into the storytelling’s effects of evoking personal and historical memories and their emotions on travelers’ intention to visit dark tourism sites.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental study was performed. The authors created a story centered on dark tourism as their stimulus. The respondents received two stories in the form of printed ads. The presence and absence of a story character manipulated the stimulus. In addition to the experimental factors, four measurement constructs were included in the model: evoked historical memory, evoked personal memory, evoked emotion and intention to visit.FindingsThe results show that evoking historical and personal memories leads to traveler intention to visit the dark tourism sites whether or not the character is present or absent in the story. This study also reveals that only evoked personal memory positively affects individuals’ travel by evoking emotion. Furthermore, evoked historical memories also directly impact the evoke emotion, but only when the character is absent in the story.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has three limitations. First, the measurement of emotion in this study only refers to a general measurement and does not specify between negative and positive emotions. Second, the story in the current study only focuses on one example of a natural disaster. Third, this study only used students to represent Generation Z respondents, so it would be interesting if future research compared the results across different generations.Practical implicationsThe use of a reflective narrative in storytelling can be one of the options. Marketers should be cautious when using a character when it comes to dark tourism as it might have a boomerang effect, making the destination becoming unattractive to travelers, particularly, if the story tells more about the historical side of dark tourism. Managers of tourist destinations can leverage past visitors to be brand ambassadors of a place since humans share knowledge and experiences through stories and anecdotes. These personal touches can lend the personal aspects of past visitors to current ones, which can evoke memories better than an official message from a tourism board.Originality/valueThis research investigates the role of storytelling in eliciting travelers’ memories and emotional responses and how this response eventually influences their intention to visit a dark-based destination.

Journal

Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jul 27, 2022

Keywords: Storytelling; Dark tourism; Emotion; Memories; Character

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