The influence of storytelling approach in travel writings on readers' empathy and travel intentions

As a fascinating concept, storytelling attracts many researchers from a variety of disciplines. Of particular interest is the power of storytelling both on a corporate and on a product level. However, its components and implications on the people and their behavioral intentions (i.e., word and mouth, visit intention) within travel marketing are limited. In this study, we empirically investigated the relationship between the components of storytelling, empathy and behavioral intentions. By studying 155 readers, we found that perceived esthetics, narrative structure, self-reference will evoke reader empathy. We also showed that empathy was found to generate positive emotional response and behavioral intentions toward travel destination. In this sense, we suggested that travel narratives need to consider esthetics, narrative structure and relevance to readers and empathy can be considered as a determinant of emotion in the research of marketing. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.