The influence of fear-of-missing-out on travel motivation and check-in behavior in relation to new and old-attractions

Purpose Fear of missing out (FoMO) theory is often applied in non-marketing domains and associated with negative consequences. This study considers FoMO in the marketing domain of tourism and examines whether FoMO has a positive impact on tourist behavior. Using FoMO theory, push and pull travel motivation theory and regret theory, this study considers FoMO's role in tourists’ social media check-in behavior at new and old tourist attractions. Design/methodology/approach Partial least squares analysis was applied on survey information obtained from 416 individuals (199 for new-attraction and 217 for old-attraction) regarding their views on the land art attraction of Taiwan’s East Coast Land Art Festival. Findings Fear of missing out exerted greater influence on travel motivation for recent artworks than for previous artworks. While the arts motivation drove visit intention, check-in intention also played an important role. Check-in-related variables’ effect size on visit intention was medium for recent artworks and small for previous artworks. Originality/value FoMO, in the tourism context, has a positive effect on affecting tourist behavior by stimulating travel motivations and check-in motivations. Its effect is more evident in new than in old attraction, that is, attraction newness is a moderator. The impact of check-in behavior on visit intention is higher for the new than for the old attraction.