Assessing the Impact of Online Advertising Towards Domestic Travel Intention: In the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic

Tourism is a collection of activities, services, and industries that deliver a travel experience comprising transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, entertainment, and other hospitality services provided for individuals or groups traveling away from home. Despite this, Online Advertising can be defined as deliberate messages placed on third-party websites available through internet access. This study aims to gain an insight into the impact of online advertising on domestic travelers’ travel intention towards domestic tourism. Even though previous studies emphasize advertising and the effect on tourism, those are providing outdated information. This overall study addresses the unexplored knowledge gap, which is investigating the domestic tourists and the effect of online advertising on the travel intention of domestic travelers. Mixed research approach conducted by involving 160 domestic travelers within the central province using a stratified sampling technique. Primary data was collected using both structured questions and semi-structured interviews. Descriptive statistics developed the profile, regression analysis assessed the impact of online advertising methods on domestic travelers’ travel intentions and the thematic analysis identified the perception of domestic travelers. Findings revealed a significant positive relationship between online advertising and the travel intention of domestic travelers and three parent themes were developed; (a) Development of tourism (b) Behavior towards information and (c) Effect of Advertising. Paper concluded highlighting the managerial implications and future scholarly areas.