Emotional storytelling and destination branding through short video journalism: a qualitative study of Gansu, China

Introduction The current study examines how tourism management authorities can collectively build brand identity with the help of content creators and media reports, utilising short video journalism (SVJ) as an effective storytelling mechanism for destination branding in the Chinese province of Gansu. It integrates media effects theory and co-generation theory to examine SVJ storytelling, sentimental values, and charged storytelling techniques. Methods The study employs a qualitative, multi-stage design, conducts semi-structured interviews with seven stakeholders, and analyses tourism-based short videos on Xiaohongshu and Douyin. Results The study's findings demonstrate that Gansu's brand identity is collaboratively constructed through co-created narration, emotional appeal, and algorithmic participation, rather than through the customary, controlled marketing approach. Emotional indicators such as music, storytelling, and local dialects appear central to fostering compassion and a desire to travel. Furthermore, authenticity is restructured as relational reliability (credibility), aligning journalistic accuracy with compassionate and empathetic fairness/accountability. Participants in this study also highlighted problems with funding stability, content convergence, and measurement of effects. Discussion The study theoretically extends media effects theory by proposing an emotional co-framing perspective in which emotional reactions of audiences mutually frame branding outcomes. It highlights the need to understand algorithmic measures and dynamics in ethical storytelling and to enhance cooperation between creators and journalists in tourism-related communication. The research positions SVJ as an evolving configuration of digital cultural engagement that can transform peripheral destinations into emotionally resonant, passionately echoing, and worldly yet familiar brands.