The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model

This study explores the influence of the short video platform TikTok on the travel decision-making process of older Chinese tourists, particularly in destination selection. With the widespread popularity of social media and short video content, the older population has gradually become an important...

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Main Authors: Wang, Zhikun, Kamarudin, Syafila, Yaakup, Hani Salwah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Redfame Publishing Inc. 2025
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118612/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118612/1/118612.pdf
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author Wang, Zhikun
Kamarudin, Syafila
Yaakup, Hani Salwah
author_facet Wang, Zhikun
Kamarudin, Syafila
Yaakup, Hani Salwah
author_sort Wang, Zhikun
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This study explores the influence of the short video platform TikTok on the travel decision-making process of older Chinese tourists, particularly in destination selection. With the widespread popularity of social media and short video content, the older population has gradually become an important segment in the tourism market. Grounded in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2), this study investigates the extent to which TikTok shapes and facilitates travel decisions among this population. Through a questionnaire survey and structural equation modeling analysis, the results show that TikTok's performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and hedonic motivation significantly affect the travel decisions of older tourists. At the same time, older tourists are influenced by social influence and habit. However, the study also reveals that facilitating convenience has no significant impact on the behavioral intentions of older tourists, indicating that for older tourists accustomed to using technology, facilitating convenience are not decisive factors. This study enriches the application of short video platforms in the travel decision-making of the older, especially the marketing potential of the emerging TikTok platform. The findings provide practical guidance for tourism marketers to better utilize short video platforms to attract older tourists and influence their travel decisions.
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institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
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spelling upm-1186122025-07-18T07:44:24Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118612/ The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model Wang, Zhikun Kamarudin, Syafila Yaakup, Hani Salwah This study explores the influence of the short video platform TikTok on the travel decision-making process of older Chinese tourists, particularly in destination selection. With the widespread popularity of social media and short video content, the older population has gradually become an important segment in the tourism market. Grounded in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2), this study investigates the extent to which TikTok shapes and facilitates travel decisions among this population. Through a questionnaire survey and structural equation modeling analysis, the results show that TikTok's performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and hedonic motivation significantly affect the travel decisions of older tourists. At the same time, older tourists are influenced by social influence and habit. However, the study also reveals that facilitating convenience has no significant impact on the behavioral intentions of older tourists, indicating that for older tourists accustomed to using technology, facilitating convenience are not decisive factors. This study enriches the application of short video platforms in the travel decision-making of the older, especially the marketing potential of the emerging TikTok platform. The findings provide practical guidance for tourism marketers to better utilize short video platforms to attract older tourists and influence their travel decisions. Redfame Publishing Inc. 2025-03-17 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118612/1/118612.pdf Wang, Zhikun and Kamarudin, Syafila and Yaakup, Hani Salwah (2025) The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model. Studies in Media and Communication, 13 (2). pp. 234-249. ISSN 2325-8071; eISSN: 2325-808X https://redfame.com/journal/index.php/smc/article/view/7431 10.11114/smc.v13i2.7431
spellingShingle Wang, Zhikun
Kamarudin, Syafila
Yaakup, Hani Salwah
The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model
title The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model
title_full The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model
title_fullStr The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model
title_full_unstemmed The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model
title_short The travel trend in the age of TikTok: how older Chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the UTAUT2 Model
title_sort travel trend in the age of tiktok: how older chinese tourists choose their travel destination – an empirical study using the utaut2 model
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118612/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118612/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118612/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118612/1/118612.pdf