Seeing is wanting: how do tourism TV programmes affect online content generation and travel product demand on the featured destinations?

This study investigates how TV programmes featuring tourist destinations influence online content generation and demand for travel products. We combine multi-sourced novel datasets on TV programmes, online social media postings, news articles, and travel product purchase transactions in South Korea. Our analysis finds that featuring a tourist destination in TV programmes is positively associated with increased social media posts, news articles about the destination, and travel product demands. The effect is more pronounced for popular destinations with initially higher demand. This study provides insights into the media effects on the travel industry and highlights the potential of media-driven tourism marketing strategies.