Emotional or rational? The congruence effect of message appeals and country stereotype on tourists' international travel intentions

Advertising can be used to promote tourism recovery post-COVID-19 pandemic. However, the effectiveness of such advertising in the pandemic context remains uncertain. This study shows that when a country is associated with a warmth stereotype, advertisements with emotional appeals increase visit intention, whereas advertisements with rational appeals are more effective when the country is associated with a competence stereotype. These relationships are mediated by processing fluency and strengthened when the perceived health risk at a destination is low. Our study enriches tourism research by revealing that the effectiveness of destination advertising depends on a combination of tourists' pre-established country stereotypes, destination marketing organizations' advertising messages, and the pandemic environment. It also introduces metacognition as a new mechanism underlying travel decisions.