Pengaruh Keterlibatan Media Sosial Terhadap Minat Berkunjung Ke Labuan Bajo : Persepsi Nilai Dan Citra Destinasi Sebagai Variabel Mediasi

Social media has become a primary source of travel information and inspiration, yet high exposure does not always translate into strong visit intention. This study analyzes the effect of social media engagement on tourists’ visit intention to Labuan Bajo, both directly and through perceived value and destination image as mediating variables. A quantitative approach with descriptive and verificative methods was applied. Primary data were collected through a questionnaire administered to 100 respondents selected by purposive sampling, namely active social media users who had obtained information about Labuan Bajo through social media and had never visited it. The data were analyzed using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4. The results show that social media engagement has a positive and significant effect on perceived value (β = 0.421), destination image (β = 0.456), and visit intention (β = 0.405). Perceived value (β = 0.347) and destination image (β = 0.380) also have positive and significant effects on visit intention and partially mediate the effect of social media engagement, with indirect effects of 0.146 and 0.173, respectively. The model explains 81.5% of the variance in visit intention (R² = 0.815), although the overall model fit is not yet optimal. This study contributes by mapping two mediation pathways, value and image, that link social media engagement to the visit intention of prospective tourists to a super-priority tourism destination.