The Mechanism of Word-of-Mouth for Tourist Destinations in Crisis

In an era of mobile internet, word-of-mouth marketing has become a powerful tool for optimizing tourist destination marketing. Extensive research studies on the mechanism of word-of-mouth have been carried out. However, there is little research on the mechanism of word-of-mouth concerning tourist destinations in crisis. This article focuses on the influence mechanism of word-of-mouth in the relationship between perceived images and behavioral intentions. A structural equation model was established, with “perceived image” as the independent variable, “word-of-mouth” and “psychological distance” as mediating variables, and “behavioral intention” as the dependent variable. Our study is based on a survey in Southern Xinjiang. The final results show that word-of-mouth plays a mediating role in the relationship between perceived image and behavioral intentions. The moderating effect of word-of-mouth plays two roles in the mechanism of the perceived image on the behavioral intention: the promotion mechanism and the repression mechanism. Tourists’ sense of psychological distance significantly mediates the relationship between perceived image and behavioral intention. The findings enrich word-of-mouth and the marketing theories for the destinations in crisis, which provide enlightening insights for the sustainable development of the destinations in crisis.