The Influence of Vlog Content on Tourists’ Variety-Seeking Behaviour and Cultural Connectedness: Evidence from a Quantitative Study

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Tourist Behaviour; Travel Vlogs; Cultural Connectedness; Optimal Distinctiveness Theory

Abstract

In the context of societal and tourism developments, travel vlogs have gradually become an important marketing approach for tourism destinations. However, the specific impact of vlog content characteristics on tourist behaviour remains to be further studied. This study examined the content characteristics of travel vlogs, examining the influences of novelty and information comprehensiveness on tourists’ variety-seeking behaviour and cultural connectedness. Moreover, high levels of cultural connectedness may give rise to tensions between tourists’ assimilation and differentiation motives. And this tension can engender adverse emotional responses, prompting individuals to seek variety as a means of asserting their unique identity. Using a quantitative questionnaire survey with 302 Chinese vlog viewers, this study finds that vlog novelty and comprehensiveness positively influence variety-seeking behaviour. In addition, both functionality and emotionality positively affect cultural connectedness, with the effect of functionality being more pronounced. Building on these results, the study integrates multidisciplinary theories, tests three core assumptions based on optimal distinctiveness theory and the media-driven tourist behaviour framework, and offers practical insights for tourism marketing, particularly vlog marketing, emphasizing specific information and cultural narratives.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Zehua Liu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
TI  - The Influence of Vlog Content on Tourists’ Variety-Seeking Behaviour and Cultural Connectedness: Evidence from a Quantitative Study
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 8th International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 24
EP  - 37
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_4
ID  - Liu2026
ER  -