The effect of celebrity endorsement on destination brand love: A comparison of previous visitors and potential tourists

This study examines the effect of celebrity endorsement on destination brand love, as well as the mediating effect of parasocial interaction, across two different groups: previous visitors and potential tourists. Hong Kong was selected as the destination, and Guangzhou was chosen as the research site to collect data. Direct, indirect, and total effects, as well as multi-group comparison, were thoroughly investigated. Results show that both previous visitors and potential tourists can form a love relationship with a destination brand. However, the effects of celebrity endorsement on destination brand love are different between two groups. For potential tourists, trustworthiness and expertise of celebrity endorser positively affect destination brand love directly and indirectly through parasocial interaction. While for previous visitors, attractiveness and trustworthiness positively affect destination brand love indirectly through parasocial interaction. This study provides new theoretical and managerial implications on destination brand love.