EXPRESS: Virtual Influencers in Destination Marketing: The Role of Flow Experience in Shaping Visit Intention

As artificial intelligence increasingly mediates tourism communication, virtual influencers (VIs) challenge traditional assumptions about persuasion in destination marketing. This study investigates how VI-based destination promotion videos influence tourists’ visit intentions by examining flow experience as a core persuasive mechanism. Integrating the Elaboration Likelihood Model and flow theory, this study analyzes how content attributes (informativeness, entertainment, vividness) and VI attributes (physical attractiveness, social attractiveness, attitude homophily) shape flow, conceptualized through telepresence, focused attention, and time distortion. Based on survey data from 599 respondents, the results indicate that content attributes and VI attributes significantly contribute to flow experience, which subsequently enhances destination visit intention. The findings highlight flow as an important mechanism through which content and VI attributes influence tourists’ destination visit intentions in AI-mediated tourism contexts. This study advances hospitality and tourism theory by reconceptualizing virtual influencers as experiential persuasion agents and provides strategic guidance for VI-based destination marketing.