Does Vivid Imagination Deter Visitation? The Role of Mental Imagery Processing in Virtual Tourism on Tourists’ Behavior

The digital transformation of the tourism industry influences tourists’ behavior. Grounded in dual-processing theory, this study developed a holistic framework to explain the underlying psychological mechanisms of virtual tourism. The study’s overarching objectives were to (1) examine how mental imagery processing (MIP) of sensory stimuli in virtual tourist attractions influence cognition (learning) and emotion and (2) contribute to prior research that focused on the positive effect of MIP. This study aims to explore the potential negative impacts of MIP on future behavioral intention to visit actual tourist attractions. Two rounds of surveys in China show that MIP influenced cognition and emotion, which together may affect future visitation. MIP inspired a desire to visit through learning, although it also decreased interest because of negative emotions. The current study contributes to the virtual tourism literature and MIP theory and suggests implications for the use of virtual technologies in tourism marketing.