THE INFLUENCE OF DESTINATION IMAGE IN DOUYIN CONTENT ON INFORMATION ADOPTION AMONG CHINESE GENERATION Z TRAVELLERS

Abstract Against the backdrop of the rapid development of short-video platforms, more and more Chinese Generation Z travellers seek information by watching Douyin short videos before travelling, and in the process influence decisions about the perception of travel. Although existing literature has extensively explored digital travel communication, this literature has mainly focused on users' attitudes towards short video-generated content and how attitudes affect user credibility. However, there is still a lack of literature that focuses on the image of the destination presented by Douyin short video content, and in particular the impact of this specific factor on the information adoption of Gen Z tourists. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the role of destination image in the relationship between short video content and tourism information adoption among Chinese Gen Z tourists. This study was a quantitative cross-sectional survey and the data was conducted in SPSS 27.0. The results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the content of Douyin's short videos on destination image, and users' adoption of travel information. This study not only makes a practical contribution to the development of mass communication in digital tourism, but also provides an empirical basis for the literature in related fields.