“Whether and how digital celebrities make us hungry for travel?”—An exploration of broadening and constructing perspectives on gastronomic tourism

Abstract

This study explored the influence of digital celebrities on gastronomic tourism through the lens of the broaden-and-build theory. Utilizing partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and a case study focused on TikTok, the research examined how consumers' subjective well-being (SWB) affects para-social interaction, novelty seeking, and audience participation, and how these factors, in turn, influence behavioral intention in the domains of food and travel. The results validated the proposed hypotheses, underscoring the importance of SWB in shaping behavioral intention within gastronomic tourism driven by digital celebrities. This paper enhances the current literature by elucidating the role of digital celebrities in gastronomic tourism and offers practical insights for marketers and tourism professionals on optimizing the influence of digital celebrities to improve the gastronomic tourism experience.