Digital tourism platform features as marketing stimuli shaping tourist experience and revisit intention

Introduction Digital tourism platforms have become increasingly influential in shaping tourists’ experiences and behavioral intentions, serving as important marketing and communication channels. However, existing research has paid limited attention to how specific platform attributes are associated with tourists’ revisit intentions through experiential processes. Methods Drawing on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, this study examines how four key attributes of digital tourism platforms—platform accessibility, platform usability, personalized recommendations, and online review quality—are associated with revisit intention, with the association mediated by the quality of tourist experience. Data were collected from 581 individuals who had visited Beijing, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Results All four platform attributes are associated with the quality of the tourist experience, which in turn significantly predicts revisit intention. Furthermore, the quality of the tourist experience partially mediates the relationship between platform attributes and revisit intention, suggesting that tourists’ experiential evaluations play a central role in this relationship. Discussion These findings highlight the critical role of the quality of the tourist experience in are associated with revisit intention through within a communication-based SOR framework. The study contributes to understanding how digital tourism platforms serve as marketing stimuli that shape tourist behavior. In practical terms, the findings have implications for platform operators and destination marketers seeking to enhance digital communication strategies and promote sustainable revisit behavior.