Celebrity endorser refers to ‘the individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement’ (McCracken, 1989). The media personas such as pop stars, politicians, athletes, or social CEOs are traditional celebrities. Following the definition, the individual who becomes famous on social media platforms can also be defined as a celebrity in the web 2.0 age (Yang, 2018).

In the field of tourism, previous studies explored the role of destination endorsers in destination marketing from two perspectives. One perspective views the attributes of the endorser. Roy et al. (2021) revealed the possible impact of celebrity country of origin on the attitude and intention of tourists. Glover (2009) argued that the celebrity image may influence the destination awareness and decision making of tourists. Xu and Pratt (2018) explored the relationship among endorser–destination congruence, endorser–tourist congruence, attitude toward a destination and visit intention. Schoner-Schatz et al. (2021) verified that a smiling endorser in social media content more likely evoke the visit intention of tourists and their recommendation compared with non-smiling endorsers. In addition, some studies focus on the effect of the credibility of the destination endorser on the attitude toward a destination, destination image, awareness, perceived quality, brand passion, or brand love (Van der Veen and Song, 2014; Kim et al., 2018; Gilal et al., 2020; Kim and Chen, 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). The second perspective focuses on the characteristics of tourists. McCartney and Pinto (2014) revealed that the effect of destination endorsers on the decision making of tourists may vary with the demographic characteristics of tourists. Roy et al. (2021) found that the country of origin of tourists may influence the effect of the endorser on their decision making. Glover (2009) believed that the self-image of tourists may influence their destination awareness and decision making. Yen and Teng (2015) found that the celebrity involvement of tourists positively influences their perceived value of film scene and visit intention. Combined with para-social interaction theory and balance theory, Su et al. (2011) found that the para-social relationship of audiences with celebrities is positively related to their attitude toward a destination.

Despite the extensive investigation on the role of endorsers, few studies have explored their effect on place attachment. Kim et al. (2018) showed how the local celebrities of a destination influence the place attachment of tourists by enhancing brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand image. Chen (2018) found that the involvement of tourists with celebrities positively influences their destination image and their place attachment. However, the formation of the place attachment of potential tourists continues to lack attention. Zhang et al. (2020) explored how the credibility of endorsers and the para-social relationships of tourists influence tourist destination brand love. In this study, we explore how the credibility of celebrity endorsers influences the place attachment of potential tourists by enhancing the destination attitude, para-social relationship, and destination source credibility of potential tourists.

Credibility refers to the believability of information and/or its source (Hovland et al., 1953). In tourism research, prior studies explored the source credibility of online information (Xie et al., 2011; Ayeh et al., 2013; Ayeh, 2015; Tan and Chang, 2016; Dedeoglu, 2019), destination endorser, or the credibility of celebrities (Kim et al., 2018; Kim and Chen, 2020; Zhang et al., 2020), as well as destination source credibility (Veasna et al., 2013; Girish et al., 2020; Jiménez-Barreto et al., 2020). In this study, we focus on the latter two concepts.

Endorser credibility refers to the extent to which the endorser is perceived as possessing expertise relevant to the communication topic and can be trusted to provide an objective opinion on the subject (Goldsmith et al., 2000). In other words, credibility reflects the influence of the positive characteristics of endorsers on the acceptance of relevant information of the receivers (Ohanian, 1990). Physical attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise are the three basic sub-dimensions of credibility identified in previous studies. Physical attractiveness can be defined as the tendency or predisposition of the receiver to evaluate the physical attributes of endorsers in a positive way (Berscheid and Hatfield, 1969). Trustworthiness reflects the level of honesty and integrity of endorsers. Expertise refers to the extent to which an endorser is perceived to have competence and knowledge (McGinnies and Ward, 1980). Previous studies introduced various theories to explain the role of the credibility of endorsers on destination marketing. From the source credibility model perspectives, Van der Veen and Song (2014) explored how the perceived credibility of the endorser in print advertisements influences the destination attitude of receivers and the indirect effect on visit intention. Based on balance theory and direct effect transfer model, Zhang et al. (2020) constructed the relationships among the credibility of celebrities, the para-social relationships of tourists with celebrities, and their destination brand love. The positive impact of credibility on destination brand love was tested. In the lens of symbolic communication theory, Kim et al. (2018) verified the relationships among the credibility of endorsers, festival brand awareness, perceived quality, and festival brand image. By introducing the meaning transfer model, Kim and Chen (2020) explored the influence of the credibility of religious celebrities on the destination image and attachment of visitors. Gilal et al. (2020) verified the positive role of endorsers on brand passion.

Destination source credibility can be defined as the extent to which an individual believes the willingness and capability of destination management to deliver its promises related to the destination (Veasna et al., 2013). This concept is based on brand credibility derived from the brand signaling theory (Erdem and Swait, 1998). Prior studies in the marketing field believed that brand credibility is vital in brand choice under the asymmetric information of markets (Erdem and Swait, 2004). In tourism research, few studies explored the impact of destination source credibility. Veasna et al. (2013) found that higher destination source credibility could enhance the destination image of tourists and their place attachment. del Barrio-Garcia and Prados-Peña (2019) verified the positive effect of destination brand extension credibility on the perception of brand equity of tourists. From a pre-visit perspective, previous research found that online destination brand credibility may positively influence the behavioral intention of users toward the destination. Given the important impact of destination source credibility, prior studies also identified some of its antecedents. In a heritage tourism context, del Barrio-Garcia and Prados-Peña (2019) explored how the destination brand extension authenticity influences credibility. Focused on an online destination, Jiménez-Barreto et al. (2020) verified the positive influence of online experience on online destination credibility. To the best of our knowledge, the influence of the credibility of the destination endorser on destination source credibility remains unknown.

The concept of attitude refers to an overall evaluation of a psychological object (Ajzen, 2001). The attitude of tourists toward a destination reflects their level of favorable evaluation or appraisal of a certain destination (Ajzen, 1991; Jalilvand et al., 2012). Tourist attitude has been recognized as a crucial factor of travel decisions of tourists (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012; Shin et al., 2022). In terms of the determinants of tourist attitude, previous studies explored the tourist and destination perspectives. For example, the motivation (Pereira et al., 2019), beliefs (Lam and Hsu, 2006) and destination image of tourists; the personality of the destination (Souiden et al., 2017); and perceived value (Lee et al., 2014) have been verified as a predictor of tourist attitude. Apart from the two perspectives, some studies also identified the role of other sources. For instance, the attitude of users toward websites (Tang et al., 2012), electronic word of mouth (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012), and source credibility (Van der Veen and Song, 2014) have been proven to be a predictor of tourist attitude toward a destination.

The concept of para-social relationships (PSR) is derived from para-social interaction theory, which proposes that the media audience could develop an imagined intimacy with the media persona through one-sided interaction controlled by the media persona (Horton and Richard Wohl, 1956). The initial focus of this theory is the persona in mass media, such as newscaster (Rubin and McHugh, 1987), performer (Turner, 1993) on television, or host (Rubin and Step, 2000) on the radio. The theory postulates that the viewer would generate an illusion of social interaction through the appearance of the media persona, gestures, and voice communicated by media (Horton and Richard Wohl, 1956). In the age of web 1.0, the theory further developed in the context of website media. Hoerner (1999) proposed that corresponding to the social cues of the media persona, the website could also elicit an illusion of social interaction through the tone of narrative text, picture presentations, or design metaphor. The theory is then wildly introduced in the context of web 2.0. The role of PSR with persona was identified in various social media types, such as blogger (Thorson and Rodgers, 2006), vlogger (Hwang and Zhang, 2018), brand page (Labrecque, 2014), and online community (Zheng et al., 2020).

In the field of tourism, previous studies explored the role of PSR from various perspectives. Focusing on the benefits and behavior of tourists, Kim and Kim (2017) explored how the PSR of elderly users with tourism websites affects their well-being and word-of-mouth (WOM). Choi et al. (2019) explained the influence of the PSR of online travel community users on their community satisfaction and travel satisfaction. Yılmazdoğan et al. (2021) revealed that the PSR of viewers with social media influencers may influence their travel intention. From tourism company branding perspectives, Lee and Lee (2017) tested the relationships between the PSR of users with hotel brand through the social media platform and their self-brand connection and brand usage intention. Similarly, previous studies have identified the roles of PSR on tourism company brand identification and the citizenship behavior of consumers (Kim and Kim, 2018; Ye et al., 2021). From destination marketing perspectives, Su et al. (2011) found that the PSR of viewers with TV characters and their attitude toward the characters are related to destination attitude in a highly perceived cultural proximity context based on balance theory. Similarly, based on balance theory, Zhang et al. (2020) revealed that the PSR of viewers with a celebrity may positively influence their destination brand love.

The concept of place attachment derived from attachment theory initially focused on emotional bonding between humans (Bowlby, 1969). In environmental psychology, place attachment refers to the emotional bonding between individuals and places (Low and Altman, 1992; Hidalgo and Hernandez, 2001). Some studies proposed that the long-term experience of an individual of the physical and social aspects of a place (Ramkissoon et al., 2018; Ramkissoon, 2020), such as biology, environment, psychology, and sociocultural context of the place, develops their place attachment (Low and Altman, 1992; Stylidis, 2018; Woosnam et al., 2018). However, another line of studies argued that individuals could develop an attachment toward a place before they arrive there (Feldman, 1990; Blake, 2002), which emphasizes the role of the secondary source on place attachment (Beckley et al., 2007).

In tourism research, most studies explored the place attachment of residents (Strzelecka et al., 2017; Ramkissoon, 2020), tourists (Jiang et al., 2017; Aleshinloye et al., 2020), or employees (Stylidis, 2020) in the post-experience context. Research scarcely focuses on this concept in the pre-visit context. Chen et al. (2019) revealed that the listener may develop destination attachment through transportation of songs related to the destination. Cheng and Kuo (2015) found that the familiarity of destination elements for first-visit tourists has a positive relationship with their destination attachment. For destination marketing, Chen (2018) explored the positive influence of the celebrity involvement of audiences on their place attachment. Hosany et al. (2020) proposed that the potential tourist could develop a destination attachment through media persona.

The Chinese ministry of culture and tourism has recognized the role of social media influencers on rural tourism development (Jiao, 2020). Tenzin becomes one of the most famous destination endorsers in China, when his handsome and innocent smile in his first short video published on the Douyin platform in 2020 left a good impression on audiences (Zhang, 2020; Zhao, 2020). As of March 18, 2021, his social media account such as Sina Weibo, one of the most popular social media platforms in China (CNNIC, 2020), has over 1.68 million¹ followers. According to the statistics of the Ctrip and the Qunar, two of the Chinese travel platforms, the number of searches for the endorsed destination (i.e., LiTang) and hotel booking shot up rapidly after his first video was released (Leng, 2020; Zhao, 2020). The Chinese ministry of culture and tourism has recognized the “Tenzin effect” on tourism recovery (Guan, 2020). A local state-owned corporation now hires Tenzin to endorse local tourism (Zhao, 2020). Considering that Tenzin has compelling public fame and is the local resident of the endorsed destination, it could facilitate a more favorable audience response (Van der Veen and Song, 2014; Zhang et al., 2020; Roy et al., 2021). Therefore, Tenzin was chosen as the case.

The measurement scales in the current research were adapted from previous research to conduct a questionnaire survey with Chinese respondents. Prior studies have verified the reliability and validity of the scales. The items were translated following the back-to-back translation process to ensure accuracy. A pilot test with a small number of participants was conducted to modify the item slightly for appropriate wording. The questionnaire includes three parts. In the first part, five screening questions were set to identify subjects. The five questions are as follows: (1) Are you a resident of LiTang? (Samples of residents did not include in this study). (2) Do you know Tenzin? (a photo of Tenzin was provided in the questionnaire to assist respondents in their process of remembering). (3) Do you know that Tenzin is the destination endorser of LiTang? (4) Have you traveled to LiTang before? (5) The respondents over 18 years old were chosen as targets. The second part consisted of 35 items to measure the constructs. The 7-point Likert-type scale was adapted to rate each item. The third part collected the demographic information of respondents. The scale of each construct is described below.

The destination endorser credibility includes three sub-dimensions: trustworthiness, attractiveness, and expertise (Ohanian, 1990). The measurement scale was adapted from Munnukka et al. (2016) as well as Zhang et al. (2020) including four items for trustworthiness, four items for attractiveness, and four items for expertise. The destination attitude was measured using three items (Chen et al., 2019). The para-social relationship was measured using eight items adapted from Reinikainen et al. (2020) and Zhang et al. (2020). The destination source credibility was measured using five items adapted from Veasna et al. (2013) and Girish et al. (2020). Place attachment was measured using two sub-dimensions including four items for place dependence and three items for place identity adapted from Chen et al. (2019) and Hosany et al. (2020).

Considering that the destination endorser, Tenzin, is a social media celebrity and conveys information via social media platforms, the target subjects in this study are social media user. To collect the samples of targets, an online survey was adopted. This study used two ways to distribute questionnaires. On one hand, the online questionnaire was designed and posted on the Tencent questionnaire platform (an online survey platform)² to collect samples. This online survey platform could automatically screen the questionnaire based on the rate pattern (i.e., those with the same rate number of each item) and response time (i.e., those below the minimal response time), which could assist researchers to ensure the quality of samples. To enhance the response rate, each questionnaire has a 2.5 CNY cash bonus as an incentive. On the other hand, the authors distributed online questionnaires via personal social media contacts. The questionnaire was initially sent to the personal network of the author on WeChat; then, the respondents could further send it to their friends, classmates, or colleagues. The samples were collected from March 29 to April 10, 2021. A total of 504 questionnaires were collected and based on the screening questions, 367 questionnaires were usable.

As shown in Table 1, the female (55%) are more than male respondents (45%) in the samples, which shall be acceptable in the context of digital celebrities (Hwang and Zhang, 2018). Most of the respondents were not married, aged 18–35, hold an undergraduate degree, and were working or studying.

The first step of SEM aims to verify the reliability and validity of the measurement scales through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results showed that all the indices are acceptable. The indices of model fit showed acceptable results (χ∧2/df = 2.530 < 3, TLI = 0.949 > 0.8, CFI = 0.955 > 0.8, NFI = 0.928 > 0.8, IFI = 0.955 > 0.8, RMSEA = 0.065 < 0.08, SRMR = 0.0454 < 0.08). As illustrated in Table 2, the normality assessment of indicators showed that skewness ranged from −0.82 to 0.094, and the kurtosis ranged from −0.793 to 0.708 within the −1 and 1 acceptable range (Hair et al., 2010). The factor loading of each indicator is above 0.701. The Cronbach’s alpha value of each construct is above 0.7, indicating desirable internal consistency. The composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) are above the minimal values of 0.7 and 0.5, respectively. This finding means that the reliability and convergent validity are acceptable. The Fornell-Larcker criterion (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) was adopted to verify the discriminant validity. As shown in Table 3, the square root of the AVE of each construct is above the correlation of constructs. Therefore, the measurement model has desirable reliability and validity.

The second step was to conduct the path analysis to test the hypotheses. The maximum likelihood method was adopted to estimate the parameters of the structural model. The model fit indices are generally accepted (χ∧2/df = 2.609 < 3, TLI = 0.947 > 0.8, CFI = 0.951 > 0.8, NFI = 0.923 > 0.8, IFI = 0.951 > 0.8, RMSEA = 0.066 < 0.08, SRMR = 0.0524 < 0.08). As illustrated in Table 4, the credibility of endorsers has a significant positive influence on the destination attitude of potential tourists (β = 0.785, t-value = 15.918, P < 0.001), para-social relationship with him (β = 0.871, t-value = 17.364, P < 0.001) and destination source credibility (β = 0.853, t-value = 18.023, P < 0.001). Therefore, hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 were supported. Table 4 also reveals that the place attachment of potential tourists is significantly influenced by their destination attitude (β = 0.139, t-value = 2.938, P = 0.003 < 0.01), para-social relationship with endorser (β = 0.602, t-value = 10.874, P < 0.001) and destination source credibility (β = 0.262, t-value = 4.576, P < 0.001). Therefore, hypotheses 4, 5, and 6 were supported.

The mediating effect of the credibility of endorsers on the place attachment potential tourists was verified via the bootstrap method (Kline, 2015). The number of bootstrap samples is set as 5,000 (Hair et al., 2016), and the bias-corrected confidence level is 95%. The lower bounds (BC) and upper bounds (BC) were 0.816 and 0.889, respectively, excluding zero in this range. The result showed that a significant indirect effect exists between endorser credibility and place attachment (P < 0.001). The total indirect effect of endorser credibility is 0.857 which separately influences through destination attitude (γ = 0.109), para-social relationship (γ = 0.524), and destination source credibility (γ = 0.224).

Although the persuasiveness of destination endorsers in destination marketing has been widely identified (van der Veen, 2008; Glover, 2009; McCartney and Pinto, 2014; Van der Veen and Song, 2014; Xu and Pratt, 2018), few studies explored their influence mechanism on the place attachment of potential tourists which could improve the destination competitiveness (Dwyer et al., 2019). By adopting a quantitative research method, this study verified the advantage of a credible destination endorser in place attachment formation to extend the tourism and marketing literature.

The current study tested the relationship between destination endorser credibility and destination attitude from the source credibility model perspective in the marketing field. Consistent with prior findings of McCartney and Pinto (2014), the result supports this hypothesis which implies that a credible destination endorser may positively change the attitude of potential tourists toward the destination through the internalization process.

From the uncertainty reduction theory perspective in the social-psychological field, this study established and verified the influence relationship between credibility from the marketing field and para-social relationship from the media psychology field. The finding of this study is consistent with the findings of prior studies (Yuan et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2020; Yılmazdoğan et al., 2021). Moreover, this study further clarifies the underlying reason of this relationship, which indicated that a credible endorser could reduce the uncertainty of potential tourists which would facilitate the potential tourists building a para-social relationship with the endorser.

Trust transfer theory from the psychology field has rarely been introduced in the tourist marketing literature to explain the endorser credibility influence (Lee et al., 2014). The current study revealed that the credibility of endorsers positively influences destination source credibility, which is consistent with prior studies (Lee et al., 2014; Chen et al., 2015; Xiao et al., 2018). The finding suggests that a credible endorser could provide a definition of a destination where an individual has not visited before as trustworthy. Considering the lack of studies exploring this relationship in tourism marketing literature, further studies could verify it in other different contexts.

Consistent with previous empirical findings (Tsai, 2012; Veasna et al., 2013; Wong and Lai, 2015; Reitsamer et al., 2016; Chen, 2018; Prayag et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2019), our study verified the relationship among destination attitude, para-social relationship, destination source credibility, and the place attachment of potential tourists. The bootstrap method verified the indirect effect of destination endorser credibility on place attachment through the above three constructs. Therefore, this study extends the tourism destination marketing literature by verifying the three different influence mechanisms of endorser credibility on pre-visit place attachment and increasing the insight on how to enhance the behavior intention and loyalty of tourists toward a destination.

Understanding the behavior of tourists is important for destination managers (Vu et al., 2020). Given the effective role of place attachment on the behavior intention and destination loyalty of tourists, this study highlights the advantage of a credible destination endorser in pre-visit place attachment formation by identifying three possible influence mechanisms which would provide destination managers with several practical implications.

Firstly, this study reveals that destination managers could gain a competitive advantage through forming the place attachment of potential tourists. Since potential tourists do not experience the destination before, therefore, this study highlights the role of destination endorser. The credibility of endorsers could foster potential tourists through a change in their destination attitude. For example, the endorser could convey the desirable image, uniqueness, value, characteristics, or lifestyle embodied in their destination to target potential tourists through social media content such as vlog. Thereafter, the credibility of endorsers would facilitate the internalization process of potential tourists of the information conveyed, which in turn changes their attitude and the orientation of place attachment (Reitsamer et al., 2016).

Secondly, our study reveals that a credible destination endorser could facilitate the para-social interaction of potential tourists. Therefore, destination managers should select a credible endorser, enlarge their communication channels such as various social media platforms and enhance the interaction between endorser and destination. For example, the endorser should pay attention to their interaction with tourists in his/her media channel such as live broadcast, provide more interactive games or activities to enhance the involvement of tourists. Thereafter, the credible endorser could enhance the possibility that a potential tourist fosters a para-social relationship with him/her, which in turn forms the place attachment of potential tourists (Hosany et al., 2020).

Thirdly, in an information explosion era and information asymmetric context, gaining the trust of potential tourists is important (Erdem and Swait, 2004). The result indicates that a credible destination endorser positively influences the destination source credibility. To build the connection between endorsers and tourists, more daily information relevant to endorsers and destinations should provide through media channels to make tourists more familiar with the endorser. The endorser should pay attention to their information openness and show his/her credibility characteristics to gain the trust of tourists. Thereafter, the destination credibility would build the feeling of potential tourists toward it, which in turn enhances their place attachment (Veasna et al., 2013) before travel.