The effect of human versus virtual influencers: The roles of destination types and self-referencing

Briefing Social media influencers are increasingly recognized for their ability to influence tourists' decision-making processes. The emerging phenomenon of virtual influencers presents an unprecedented challenge to their human counterparts, reshaping the dynamics of the tourism industry. Integrating different forms of destination advertising and harmonizing human and virtual influence approaches to effectively attract tourists remains a challenge. This study fills this gap examining the effectiveness of human and virtual influencers in promoting natural versus cultural destinations. Our results show that virtual influencers drive visit intentions for cultural destinations, while human influencers do so for natural destinations. Credibility and self-reference play a serial mediating role in this process. Furthermore, this study explores the moderating role of tourists' preference for originality. This research provides valuable insights for tourism industry managers who want t...