Romancing 'Friends with Benefits': Does it Benefit New York as a Travel Destination?

This study examines whether the romantic comedy as an information source can impact on and shape viewer attitude toward and intention to visit a place. Data were collected from patrons at a large cinema chain located in a major shopping center in Australia. Using an experimental approach, the experi...

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Main Authors: Quintal, Vanessa, Phau, Ian
Format: Journal Article
Published: Cognizant Communication Corporation 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23330
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author Quintal, Vanessa
Phau, Ian
author_facet Quintal, Vanessa
Phau, Ian
author_sort Quintal, Vanessa
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This study examines whether the romantic comedy as an information source can impact on and shape viewer attitude toward and intention to visit a place. Data were collected from patrons at a large cinema chain located in a major shopping center in Australia. Using an experimental approach, the experimental group watched a romantic comedy set in New York, whereas the control group did not. Subjects in the experimental group had significantly higher empathy, past experience, place familiarity, attitude toward, intention to visit New York, and significantly lower performance/financial risk associated with visiting New York than the control group. Furthermore, perceived social risk played a significant role in influencing place familiarity in the control group. This suggests that romantic comedies can be an effective information source in allaying viewers' concerns about a movie location. This article provides researchers with theoretical underpinning for future empirical studies in movie-induced tourism. It also encourages more collaboration between government, movie producers, and destination managers to deliver a movie that provides consistent branding in its story, location, and product placement strategies.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-233302020-07-24T08:03:33Z Romancing 'Friends with Benefits': Does it Benefit New York as a Travel Destination? Quintal, Vanessa Phau, Ian movie-induced tourism Intention to visit place image This study examines whether the romantic comedy as an information source can impact on and shape viewer attitude toward and intention to visit a place. Data were collected from patrons at a large cinema chain located in a major shopping center in Australia. Using an experimental approach, the experimental group watched a romantic comedy set in New York, whereas the control group did not. Subjects in the experimental group had significantly higher empathy, past experience, place familiarity, attitude toward, intention to visit New York, and significantly lower performance/financial risk associated with visiting New York than the control group. Furthermore, perceived social risk played a significant role in influencing place familiarity in the control group. This suggests that romantic comedies can be an effective information source in allaying viewers' concerns about a movie location. This article provides researchers with theoretical underpinning for future empirical studies in movie-induced tourism. It also encourages more collaboration between government, movie producers, and destination managers to deliver a movie that provides consistent branding in its story, location, and product placement strategies. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23330 10.3727/108354214X13927625340190 Cognizant Communication Corporation fulltext
spellingShingle movie-induced tourism
Intention to visit
place image
Quintal, Vanessa
Phau, Ian
Romancing 'Friends with Benefits': Does it Benefit New York as a Travel Destination?
title Romancing 'Friends with Benefits': Does it Benefit New York as a Travel Destination?
title_full Romancing 'Friends with Benefits': Does it Benefit New York as a Travel Destination?
title_fullStr Romancing 'Friends with Benefits': Does it Benefit New York as a Travel Destination?
title_full_unstemmed Romancing 'Friends with Benefits': Does it Benefit New York as a Travel Destination?
title_short Romancing 'Friends with Benefits': Does it Benefit New York as a Travel Destination?
title_sort romancing 'friends with benefits': does it benefit new york as a travel destination?
topic movie-induced tourism
Intention to visit
place image
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/23330