Destination Image Mediating YouTube Tourism Content, Influencer Credibility, Engagement, and Tourists’ Intention to Visit Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined how YouTube tourism content, influencer credibility, and viewer engagement shape tourists’ intention to visit Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, testing destination image as the mediating mechanism within a YouTube-specific, platform-native pathway. Design/methodology/approach: A positivist, deductive, quantitative design was employed. Data were collected via a bilingual (Arabic/English) structured online survey using purposive/snowball sampling of international (non-resident) adults who had watched YouTube travel content about Riyadh/Saudi Arabia within the prior six months (n = 421). Analyses were run in SPSS (screening, descriptive) and SmartPLS (measurement and structural models; bootstrapped mediation). Model fit and validity met accepted thresholds; explained variance was substantial (R²_DI = 0.663; R²_TIV = 0.764). Findings: Findings show that higher-quality, information-rich, and vivid content and stronger viewer engagement raise intention mainly by enhancing destination image. Influencer credibility adds little once content and engagement are considered. Overall, destination image is the key pathway linking content and engagement to intention. Practical and theoretical implications: The results specify a clear process in video tourism persuasion: what the video does (information richness, narrative/sensory vividness) and how audiences interact (attention, emotion, behaviours) reshape DI, which then drives intention. For practice, destination marketers should prioritise content craft and designed interaction (utility, way-finding, safety cues; bilingual accessibility; community prompts) and use influencers to scale formats that already lift DI. Theoretically, the findings refine dual-process accounts (ELM/IAM) by showing credibility acts as an upstream attention/legitimacy filter with limited incremental impact on intention once message quality and engagement are modelled; DI remains the dominant proximal driver consistent with TPB. Originality: (contributions) This study (1) provides YouTube-specific evidence for an image-centered, fully mediated pathway from content and engagement to intention in an emerging destination (Riyadh) under Vision 2030, (2) decomposes platform dynamics by distinguishing content engagement from viewer engagement to improve explanatory power, (3) identifies a boundary condition for influencer credibility’s independent effect in high-information, planning-oriented contexts, and (4) offers a validated PLS-SEM measurement/analysis template for social-video tourism research.