Host language, guest language or hybrid? Language strategy in destination advertising

Xiangjie Tang and Lawrence Hoc Nang Fong

Current Issues in Tourism, 2025, vol. 28, issue 18, 3046-3060

Abstract: Language constitutes an integral part of destination culture and tourists’ experiences. Although the importance of using host language in destination marketing has been highlighted, the effectiveness of the language strategy in forming potential tourists’ visit intention remains unrevealed. Built on optimal arousal theory, this research examines whether and how the hybrid of host and guest languages (called hybrid language display hereafter) in destination advertising is more useful in attracting tourists. Two experiments were conducted using Xizang and Macau as contexts. Results reveal that the ad featuring hybrid language display works better than monolingual ads (either host or guest language only) in attracting potential tourists. Specifically, hybrid language display in a destination ad increases potential tourists’ visit intention because of higher perceived uniqueness of the destination and then curiosity about it. This language strategy in destination advertising is effective regardless of potential tourists’ self-efficacy though especially useful for increasing visit intention of those who are low in self-efficacy. Accordingly, theoretical and practical implications are offered.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13683500.2024.2403134 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rcitxx:v:28:y:2025:i:18:p:3046-3060

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rcit20

DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2024.2403134

Access Statistics for this article

Current Issues in Tourism is currently edited by Jennifer Tunstall

More articles in Current Issues in Tourism from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().