“My effort is worthwhile”: unpacking tourists’ emotional returns and behavioral engagement with AI

Purpose Based on the stimuli-organism-response theory, this study aims to delve into analyzing how various artificial intelligence (AI) attributes like informativeness, interactivity and personalization influence tourists’ memorable experience, which, in turn, influence their satisfaction and continuance intentions. In addition, it innovatively focuses on how effort expectancy moderates the relationship between AI attributes and tourists’ memorable experience. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a convenient yet nationally representative sampling method, using an online survey platform, Wenjuanxing. A total of 859 valid questionnaires were collected. However, 320 questionnaires, indicating that respondents had not used any types of AI, were excluded. The final data set comprised 539 complete responses. Findings This study highlights the important role of AI’s informativeness and personalization in influencing tourists’ memorable experiences. Effort expectancy shows its significance through the moderating relationship between AI’s interactivity, personalization and memorable experiences. Originality/value This study deepens understanding of the specific mechanisms within the “AI attributes-tourist experience-behavioral intention” chain through an in-depth investigation of the diverse applications of AI by tourists. Furthermore, it innovatively introduces effort expectancy as a moderating variable to refine the understanding of this integration. Finally, this study builds upon the stimulus-organism-response model to provide a more comprehensive analysis of the factors influencing continuance usage behavior in the context of AI-enhanced travel experiences.