How Does the Cultural Connotation of Tourism Slogans Affect Travel Intention? - An Empirical Analysis Based on City Tourism Slogans in China

In the fiercely competitive landscape of urban tourism destinations, strategic destination branding has emerged as a critical differentiator. As one of the three core elements of destination branding, tourism slogans represent the most prevalent and extensively utilized instrument by destination marketers in urban tourism promotion. Previous research on tourism slogans has predominantly examined their characteristic features and effectiveness, with scant attention to typological influences on travel intention. This study pioneers a theoretically grounded dichotomy—cognitive versus affective tourism slogans—and demonstrates their differential impact through dual mediation (slogan attitude and destination attitude). Results reveal cognitive slogans exert significantly stronger effects on travel intention than affective counterparts. Crucially, we identify travel motivation (utilitarian vs. hedonic) as a key boundary condition: utilitarian contexts amplify cognitive slogans’ efficacy. Hedonic contexts enhance affective slogans’ influence.Methodologically, our mixed-methods design—incorporating qualitative inquiry, secondary data analysis, and behavioral experiments—advances tourism slogan typology research while providing destination marketers with empirically validated strategic tools for audience-specific branding.