Title: Is destination image instagrammable? Visit intentions and value co-creation through social media content

Authors: Antonios Giannopoulos; Christos Livas; Ioanna Simeli; Chara Achlada

Addresses: Department of Organisation Management, Marketing and Tourism, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki Campus, P.O. Box 141 GR, 17 Km Thessaloniki-Sindos, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece ' Department of Business Administration, University of Patras, University Campus, 26504 Rio Achaia, Greece ' Hellenic Open University, 18, Parodos Aristotelous 18, 26335 Patras, Greece ' Hellenic Open University, 18, Parodos Aristotelous 18, 26335 Patras, Greece

Abstract: The purpose of the study is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of social media content on tourists' intention to visit a destination, as well as to examine the mediating role of willingness to co-create value and destination image. An online survey was specially designed for the social media users of the official Instagram account of the City of Athens, Greece. The results suggest that destination-generated and user-generated content significantly affect the intention to visit the destination both directly and indirectly through willingness to co-create value online and destination image. Given the significant mediating role of destination image and willingness to co-create value online, destination management organisations (DMOs) are advised to reconsider the digital touchpoints with their target market by stimulating online co-creation with visitors through social media. However, for digital communications to unfold and avoid any adverse effects, DMOs' targeting efforts consider the particularities of diverse market segments.

Keywords: social media; visit intention; destination image; online value co-creation; mediation analysis; DMOs; marketing; user-generated content; UCG; destination-generated content; DGC; digital communications; eWOMs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2022.126272

International Journal of Technology Marketing, 2022 Vol.16 No.4, pp.349 - 369

Received: 25 Aug 2021
Accepted: 29 Dec 2021
Published online: 18 Oct 2022 *

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