The impact of the uses and gratifications of tourist attraction fan page

Abstract

Purpose The fan page of social network site can be used as a platform for the tourist attractions to interact with their consumers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how entertainment, informativeness, and socializing gratifications affect a user’s attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page in the context of smart tourism, on which scant research has been conducted so far. Design/methodology/approach The authors investigate how entertainment, information, and socialization gratifications affect a user’s attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page of Hong Kong youth in the context of smart tourism using structural equation modeling. Findings The authors show that three aspects of gratifications, i.e., entertainment, informativeness, and socializing, have significant impacts on a user’s attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page, which subsequently has an impact on intention to visit the attraction through a user’s attitude toward a tourist attraction developed through his/her attitude toward a fan page. Originality/value Scant research has been conducted to study how uses and gratifications affect a user’s attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page in the context of smart tourism. This research fills this research gap.