“Trust me, I’m virtual”: understanding consumer engagement with influencers and travel intentions

This study examines how key attributes of virtual and human influencers shape consumer engagement and intention to visit a tourism destination. Using an exploratory–explanatory mixed-methods design, Study 1 applies keyATM to online news data to examine how virtual influencers are represented in public/media discourse. Study 2 uses survey data to test consumer responses to both types of influencers through SEM and fsQCA. The findings reveal a discrepancy between media discourse and consumer evaluation. Trustworthiness receives limited attention in online news but emerges as the strongest predictor of consumer engagement. Expertise is significant only for virtual influencers, suggesting that expertise becomes an important cue when the source lacks embodied travel experience. The fsQCA results further show that high intention to visit can arise through different configuration paths. The study extends Source Credibility Theory to AI-generated constructed tourism information sources and provides practical implications for destination marketing organizations seeking to design differentiated influencer strategies.