Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213

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Tourism Management
journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

Celebrity endorsements in destination marketing: A three

country investigation
Subhadip Roy a, *, Wioleta Dryl b, Luciana de Araujo Gil c
a
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Sargam Marg, Vastrapur Ahmedabad, 380015, India
b
University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Management, Department of Marketing, Armii Krajowej 101, 81-824 Sopot, Poland
c
Universidad Diego Portales, Business Department, Av. Manuel Rodríguez Sur 415, Santiago, Región Metropolitana, Chile

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The present study extends research on the role of celebrity endorsements in destination marketing by exploring
Celebrity endorsements various facets of the effect of celebrity endorsements in destination marketing on the consumer. More specif­
Destination marketing ically, theories of source credibility, congruence, social identity and consumer cosmopolitanism, are used to
Destination advertising
build research questions that investigate the relative effectiveness of a celebrity endorsed tourism advertisement
Multi-country exploration
Experimental design
vis a vis a generic advertisement and the boundary conditions governing the same such as destination type
(local/global), celebrity country of origin and consumer level factors. The research questions are addressed using
four experimental studies in sequence. The same four experiments are run in three countries with different socio-
cultural backgrounds to enhance generalization, with a combined sample size of 1073 respondents. Major
findings suggest that a celebrity endorser is effective for a destination advertisement. Significant cross-country
differences were observed in consumer affect depending on the choice of celebrity (local or global) and the
destination type (i.e., domestic or international). The effects are also moderated by consumer cosmopolitanism.
The study has multiple theoretical and managerial implications.

1. Introduction endorsers to showcase destinations to their potential customers (Chan

Celebrity endorsements for marketing and product promotion is a
century-old phenomenon (Erdogan, 1999) and celebrity endorsers have
been used by marketers to promote products, services and ideas (Knoll
and Matthes, 2017; Park and Yim, 2020; Schimmelpfennig and Hunt,
2020). Recently, destination marketers have joined the bandwagon and
are using celebrities to promote their destinations to both domestic and
international tourists. Celebrity endorsers of a destination brand, also
known as tourism ambassadors, are selected for their universal appeal
across key visitor markets and are often the highlight of marketing
campaigns (van der Veen, 2009; van der Veen and Song, 2010). Celeb­
rity endorsers can play an important role in selection processes of a
destination by a prospect and subsequent travel behavior (Glover, 2009;
Teng & Chen, 2020). Marketers are considering celebrity endorsements
of tourist destinations as an important choice to boost destination return
on investment (ROI) and spread word of mouth about a destination
brand to a wider set of audiences than the regular tourism campaigns
(Kotler et al., 1993). This trend, visible both in the western and the
eastern countries, have promoted marketing campaigns using celebrity
et al., 2018) and even tourism ancillaries such as airlines (Kotsi and
Valek, 2018).
Globally, actors and sports celebrities are the most relatable pool of
endorsers (Yen and Teng, 2015). Notable examples include actor Chris
Hemsworth for Tourism Australia, singer Taylor Swift for New York,
singer Rihanna for Barbados, actor Jackie Chan for Indonesia and actor
Bae Yong-Joon for Korea. While destination marketers have used
indigenous celebrities to market destinations, there are instances where
destination marketers have used celebrities from the major target mar­
kets (a different country) to attract tourists from those markets. For
example, James Cameron was selected as the ambassador of New Zea­
land tourism to attract tourists from Canada; Arnold Schwarzenegger to
attract US tourists to Madrid; and actor Ranveer Singh to attract Indian
tourist to Switzerland (Bapna, 2017; Jamal, 2016). Celebrity endorse­
ments have benefitted destination marketers financially. For example,
the Tourism Australia campaign having Chris Hemsworth generated
revenues of more than $60 million in publicity (Owen, 2015). However,
the hefty fees charged by these ambassadors (if they are not doing it for
free), may backfire if the audience shows resentment to such

* Corresponding author.｀
E-mail addresses: subhadipr@iima.ac.in (S. Roy), wioleta.dryl@ug.edu.pl (W. Dryl), luciana.dearaujo@udp.cl, toluciana.dearaujo@udp.cl (L. de Araujo Gil).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2020.104213
Received 26 September 2019; Received in revised form 21 August 2020; Accepted 26 August 2020
Available online 7 September 2020
0261-5177/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Roy et al.
endorsement deals. For example, singer Pitbull had been Florida’s global
tourism ambassador for a year starting in August 2015. However, there
was a big controversy over the tourism marketing funding, once he was
coaxed into revealing the details of his high paid contract (Peltier,
2017). Linking a destination brand with a single person might be risky
since the destination is relying on the demographic reach of the celebrity
and the brand values that he/she is associated with. However, the reach
of a celebrity may be influenced (both positively and negatively) by the
choices in his/her personal life (Vhora, 2018). Thus, a celebrity
endorsed destination marketing campaign may go both ways. Despite
the apparent potential of the celebrity endorsement campaigns for
tourism destinations, researchers have not investigated this phenome­
non thoroughly (van der Veen and Song, 2010). In addition, the existing
investigations have confounding evidence on the effectiveness of ce­
lebrity endorsers in destination branding (Lee et al., 2008; van der Veen,
2008).
Based upon this premise, and inferences from celebrity endorsement
research (with a focus on destination marketing), three research ques­
tions (RQ) are posed: 1) whether a celebrity endorsement would work
better than a generic tourism ad across different countries; 2) If yes to
q1, then how these effects may change depending on the celebrity type
(local/global); and 3) the destination type (domestic/international). The
exploration to these RQs are conducted using four controlled experi­
ments (in sequence) conducted simultaneously with similar samples in
three countries that are socio-culturally different (India, Brazil and
Poland). The following sections outline the literature review, the back­
ground to each section and the findings and implications of the study
before the study is concluded.
2. Literature review
2.1. Destination advertising effectiveness
The effectiveness of advertising campaigns is a key issue for desti­
nation managers and thus, in-depth exploration of tourism advertising
campaigns may contribute to the effectiveness of destination adver­
tisements (Amar et al., 2017). There are multiple ways to measure the
effectiveness of destination advertising. One of the widely practiced
techniques is ‘‘Conversion study’’ that usually includes a delayed
response survey questionnaire sent (by email or telephone) to the
audience with a time lag after the advertisement is aired that has
question related to their travel behavior and attitudes (Woodside, 2010).
The conversion models considers various measures such as: Gross Con­
version Rate (GCR): i.e. the percentage of travelers who requested travel
information and then traveled to the specific destination (Choe et al.,
2017); Net Conversion Rate (NCR): GCR adjusted by excluding the
travelers who planned their trip before exposure to tourism advertising
(Stergiou and Airey, 2003); and Net Influence Rate (NIR): a combined
measure that includes both the timing and perceived influence of the
destination advertising, and related trip expenditures. However, the
existing measures were criticized by Park et al. (2013) as they do not
capture the complete process of advertising response behaviour.
Subsequently, Park et al. (2013) proposed the Destination Adver­
tising Response (DAR) model where they created a four-stage face­
t-based advertising response model. The major stages of the DAR are
attitude towards advertisement, attitude towards destination, purchase
trip facets and total trip expenditure (Stienmetz et al., 2015). The DAR
model posits destination advertising response to be a hierarchical pro­
cess that has the stages mentioned before. In stage 1, the potential tourist
is exposed to the destination advertising resulting in attitude towards
the advertisement (positive/negative). In stage 2, this attitude towards
the advertisement leads to individual attitude towards the destination.
In stage 3, the exposed audience considers whether or not to visit the
advertised destination, and the purchase intentions of various aspects.
Lastly, in stage 4, each travel-related decision is evaluated based on their
contribution to the overall perceived value of the trip leading to decision
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Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
on the total expenditure (Stienmetz et al., 2015). The DAR model has
been empirically validated in subsequent studies (Choe et al., 2017;
Stienmetz et al., 2015; Stienmetz and Fesenmaier, 2014) which implies
that all the variables i.e. attitude towards the advertisement, attitude
towards the destination, visiting intention and decision on the
expenditure-value balance are important for destination advertising.
The next subsection provides an overview of literature on celebrity
endorsements.
2.2. Overview of celebrity endorsements research
The literature on celebrity endorsements has ample evidence that
proper utilization of a celebrity endorser is effective in promotion of a
product and getting the right response from the consumers, in terms of
attitudes and intentions (Park and Yim, 2020; Priester and Petty, 2003;
Roy et al., 2012, 2015, 2019) and in terms of market based outcomes
(Agnihotri and Bhattacharya, 2018; Derdenger et al., 2018). The major
streams of research in celebrity endorsements are: a) the ‘source credi­
bility’ stream; b) the congruence stream; and c) the meaning transfer
stream.
The ‘source credibility’ researchers propose the perceived credibility
of the celebrity endorser to be the reason behind the effectiveness of the
endorser on the consumers. Three dimensions of source credibility
through which an endorser may influence the consumers are Trust­
worthiness, Expertise and Attractiveness (Ohanian, 1990; Pornpitakpan,
2003). Researchers in celebrity endorsement have observed a positive
effect of each of these dimensions on consumer attitudes and behavior,
such as: Kamins (1990) and Priester and Petty (2003) in trustworthiness;
Maddux and Rogers (1980) and Ohanian (1991) in expertise; Silvera and
Austad (2004) and Gilal et al. (2020) in attractiveness.
The ‘congruence’ studies are built on the premise of celebrity-brand
congruence (fit) and explain the effectiveness of the endorsement
through “match” between the celebrity and the brand (Choi and Rifon,
2012; Kirmani and Shiv, 1998). While the concept of fit was initially
restricted to celebrity-product ‘fit’, subsequent studies explored multiple
aspects of congruence in endorsements such as: celebrity-brand per­
sonality (Mishra et al., 2015) or celebrity-target audience age (Roy et al.,
2015) and celebrity-target market country of origin (Roy et al., 2019)
congruence.
The third stream of research in celebrity endorsements is the ‘the
meaning transfer model’ that is based on the conceptualization of ce­
lebrity endorsements as a meaning transfer process by McCracken
(1989). McCracken (1989) proposed a model where the celebrity was
considered as a storehouse of meaning that get transferred to the
product brand via advertisements and social processes. The consumers
subsequently consumed these meanings by possession and consumption
of goods and services. Researchers have put relatively less focus on
‘meaning transfer’ compared to the other two streams and have explored
celebrity traits as a proxy for meaning (Saldanha et al., 2020; Walker
et al., 1992) and found the same to get transferred to the endorsed
product.
2.3. Celebrity endorsements in destination marketing
The literature on the effects of celebrity endorsers in destination
marketing is relatively less than the volume of literature on mainstream
celebrity endorsements. Celebrity endorsement research has been
focused mainly on products and services, while the effects of endorsers
in the context of destination marketing remained under-researched (van
der Veen, 2008). Early researchers in this area (e.g., Holloway and
Robinson, 1995; Pritchard and Morgan, 2001) suggested that creating a
linkage between a well-known celebrity and a destination could benefit
the promotion of a destination immensely through free publicity and
tourist attention. In addition, a celebrity could foster the development of
the destination image using his/her own associations (Gartner, 1994).
Aronson et al. (1999) observed that a destination marketing program
S. Roy et al.
with a celebrity endorser might generate a higher degree of tourist
receptiveness, but the strength of the receptiveness would depend on the
destination brand-celebrity image linkage. According to Zhang et al.
(2020), credibility factors such as trustworthiness and expertise of a
celebrity endorser may favorably influence destination brand love of
tourists directly and indirectly through para-social interaction. Re­
searchers agree that celebrity-endorsed destination advertising may
help in differentiating a destination from others (Pike et al., 2011) and
may also generate awareness among the target audience (Campelo et al.,
2011).
Researchers exploring the underlying mechanisms that may lead to
the success of celebrity endorsements in destination marketing found the
celebrity endorser may increase destination credibility which, in turn,
may lead to favorable attitudes towards the destination (Chan, 2010).
Lee et al. (2008) proposed that the consumer’s involvement with the
celebrity would influence the success of the celebrity endorsed desti­
nation brand. This implies that the higher the involvement of the ce­
lebrity with the destination brand (fostered by the celebrity aura or
image), the higher would be the future behavioral intentions of the
target audience (Kim et al., 2012; Yen and Teng, 2015). In addition,
researchers observed that positive affective consumer reactions to
celebrity-endorsed destination advertisements are more likely to lead to
a favorable evaluation of the destination (van der Veen and Song, 2014)
that may result in favorable attitudes towards the destination (Chan
et al., 2018) and destination loyalty (Teng and Chen, 2020). It is worth
noting that the research on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements
in tourism have been around the first three stages of the DAR model.
Quite similar to mainstream endorsement research, research in ce­
lebrity endorsements for destination marketing are not free from criti­
cisms. For example, Lee et al. (2008) did not find a significant effect of
empathic involvement of the consumer with the celebrity on the desti­
nation image. Likewise, van der Veen (2008) argued that the selection of
a destination by the consumer depends on the consumer emotions and a
celebrity endorser may not be able to change such decisions. van der
Veen (2008) also argued for the ‘right’ fit between the celebrity and the
destination, but cautioned on the difficulties associated with measuring
the fit and its effect on the consumers. Glover (2009) built upon this
critique and proposed a threefold match between ‘destination image,
celebrity image and the tourist’s self-image’. Glover (2009) argued that
this tripartite fit might result in effective destination advertising.
2.4. Research gaps and objectives
Summarizing the review, it is observed that a) the quantum of
research is less in the context of celebrity endorsements of destination
brands; b) there are certain questions related to the effectiveness of the
endorsement that need to be answered; and c) there has been rarely any
study that corroborates findings across different countries to enhance
generalizability. Using these gaps as the starting point, the present
research aims to address three objectives in the present study using a
sequence of experimental designs. First, theoretical support from source
credibility theory is drawn to conduct an exploration of the notion of
whether a celebrity endorsed advertisement would be more effective
than a generic tourism ad for the same destination (study 1, corre­
sponding to H1a-c). The following study (study 2, corresponding to H2a-
c) draw inferences from the congruence theory and social identity theory
to explore whether a domestic or a foreign (to the domestic target
audience) celebrity would work better for a domestic tourist destination;
and whether this effect would be moderated by the country-specific
cultural factors (study 3, corresponding to H3a-c). The final study
(study 4, corresponding to H4a-c and H5) builds on arguments of con­
sumer cosmopolitism and investigates whether the effectiveness of ce­
lebrity endorser would depend upon the interaction between the choice
of the celebrity (i.e. whether the celebrity should be local or global) and
the destination type i.e. whether the destination is domestic or inter­
national and whether the effects would be influenced by consumer
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Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
cosmopolitanism. A schematic diagram that integrates all the study
hypotheses is given in Fig. 1. All the mentioned studies were conducted
using parallel experiments in three countries with different socio-
cultural backgrounds to aid generalizability. The next few sections are
built in the following manner: the theoretical development to each study
is presented first, leading to the hypothesis specific to the study,
following which, the methodology and data collection for that particular
study is presented. The findings from each study are then used to sup­
port/reject the respective hypotheses but also as a base for the next
study.
3. Study 1
3.1. Rationale
The rationale behind study 1 is drawn from the concepts of source
credibility (Hovland and Weiss, 1951; McGuire, 1985). The concept of
source credibility has been used frequently in endorsement research
(such as Spry et al., 2011; Winterich et al., 2018; Schouten et al., 2020).
Hovland and Weiss (1951) define source credibility as ‘the quality of a
source of communication that allows the recipients of the communica­
tion to agree (at the attitudinal or behavioral level) to the communica­
tion content/message’. A celebrity could be considered as a credible
source by his/her attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise (Oha­
nian, 1990; 1991). Researchers have observed that a credible endorser
may be able to influence the consumer’s attitude towards the adver­
tisement, brand evaluations, purchase intentions and recall (Amos et al.,
2008; Ohanian, 1991).
It is expected that a celebrity endorser would bring more credibility
as compared to a generic advertisement for a destination, since the
advertisement would have an identified source. According to Hussain
et al. (2020), trustworthiness of a celebrity positively affects advertise­
ment and brand credibility. However, the mentioned effects are
moderated by the consumers’ ethnicity, which justifies the need for
international research in this area. Since source credibility has been
found to be effective across the globe (such as USA e.g. Amos et al.,
2008; U.K. e.g. Thwaites et al., 2012; India e.g. Roy et al., 2012; and
China e.g. Hung et al., 2011), it is argued that a tourism advertisement
with a celebrity endorser would be more effective irrespective of the
destination origin and this effect would hold good for all destinations.
This effectiveness would be manifested in the consumer attitudes toward
the advertisement, destination and visiting intention. Thus, the first set
of hypotheses of the study are proposed as:
H1a A celebrity endorser will be more effective in generating positive
consumer cognitive and affective attitudes towards the adver­
tisement compared to a generic advertisement.
H1b A celebrity endorser will be more effective in generating positive
consumer attitudes towards the destination compared to a
generic advertisement.
H1c A celebrity endorser will be more effective in generating positive
destination visiting intentions compared to a generic
advertisement.
3.2. Choice of country
The study was conducted in three countries, namely India, Brazil and
Poland. There were multiple reasons behind the selection of these three
countries. First, these three countries belong to three different conti­
nents and offer significant diversity in culture. India is a recently glob­
alized nation, and a rapidly growing emerging market with a lot of
diversity in terms of religious practices, languages, social systems and
wealth structure (Sahoo, 2006; Saran et al., 2007). Brazil globalized
before India and in-spite of its diversity, has a common theme of
multi-culturalism running through the country that has resulted from
internal migration and the effects of mass media (Schneider, 2018).
S. Roy et al.
Fig. 1. The conceptual model.
Poland is a country where the most important cultural factors affecting
the people are the norms and values that dominate the society, the
characteristics of the nation and the accepted norms of behavior (Sto­
lecka-Makowska, 2016). To further support the differences between the
countries, inference is drawn from Gert Hofstede (hofstedeinsights.com,
2019) who illustrate that India, Brazil and Poland are very different on
five of the cultural dimensions suggested by Hofstede except power
distance.
While these three countries have cultural differences, all three
countries have a significant amount of celebrity endorsements in the
marketplace (Boeing and Schurhaus, 2014; Datta, 2019; Kowalewska,
2018). In addition, these countries have tourist destinations that are
comparable in terms of the destination type (such as beaches). Hence, a
simultaneous exploration in these countries would allow enough
generalizability of the findings both in terms of common and contrasting
elements.
3.3. Methodology
Experimental design was used for the study, as the study objectives/
hypotheses were dependent on categorical conditions imposed on the
dependent variables and were more fitting to a controlled experimental
set-up. Hence, there was a need to pre-select the destination and the
celebrity endorser so that fictitious ads could be created as stimuli on
which the consumer attitudes would be tested. Vargas et al. (2017)
suggest careful crafting of stimuli for experimental studies in advertising
as the accuracy and validity of the findings majorly depend on it. Thus, a
series of focus group discussions and quantitative pre-tests were con­
ducted to select the stimuli for the studies that are comparable, relevant
to the study objectives and do not create unnecessary confounding later
on. Details of the same for study 1 is given in the next sub-sections:
3.3.1. Choice of destination
To select the destination, two Focus Group Discussions (FGD) in each
country were conducted. Within each country, one FGD consisted of
student respondents and the other consisted of working professionals.
This was done to ensure within-group homogeneity, and at the same
time, maintain across group heterogeneity concerning demographics
that would give us comprehensive understanding. The gender ratio was
approximately 1:1 across the six FGDs. The total number of participants
(all six FGDs) was 50 with average group size around 8 across countries
and near to equal group sizes for student/non-student participants. The
participants were asked to discuss the destination that they would like to
visit (that they have not visited earlier, to take care of the memory
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Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
effect) and the reasons behind the same. Based on the findings, three
beach destinations were selected in each of the three countries respec­
tively (as beach destinations were found to be universally popular across
the three countries). The destinations selected were Goa in India, Ilha
Grande in Brazil and Sopot in Poland.
3.3.2. Celebrity selection
Pre-test 1 was conducted to select the celebrity endorser in each
country respectively using free word elicitation. A new sample of 50
adult respondents in each country (mean age: 32 years; approximately
40 percent female) was asked to write down the names of five national
celebrities that they would like to see as the endorser of the respective
beach destination in their country. Based on frequency counts and
maintaining the similarity of celebrity profession, cricketer Sachin
Tendulkar from India, and soccer stars Neymar from Brazil and Robert
Lewandowski from Poland were selected for study 1.
Post the celebrity selection; Pre-test 2 (in each country separately)
was conducted to ensure that all three celebrities were at the same level
of credibility. This was required as past research on source credibility in
endorsements found differential levels of credibility of the endorser to
influence consumer choice. Hence, this was done to avoid the possibility
of this confounding at a later stage. A new sample of 100 adult re­
spondents in each country was selected using judgmental sampling for
pre-test 2 that belonged to the same population as Pre-test 1 (and the
final study) (mean age: 33 years; 48 percent female). The sample in each
country was asked to provide credibility ratings for the celebrity selected
for that particular country (i.e., Tendulkar, Neymar or Lewandowski). A
six-item abridged version of Ohanian’s (1990; 1991) source credibility
scale was used to measure credibility (5-point semantic differential
scales: attractive–unattractive, classy–not classy, expert–not an expert,
knowledgeable–unknowledgeable, honest–dishonest, and trust­
worthy–untrustworthy). All three celebrities were found to have average
credibility ratings above 3. Following this, an ANOVA was run to test the
presence of any inter-country difference. The ANOVA results (F = 0.53;
p > 0.1) and subsequent pairwise comparisons did not indicate any
statistically significant difference in credibility ratings of any celebrity.
Thus, the choice of the celebrity endorser was justified. To summarize, a
3-step procedure using three different techniques (FGD, Word Elicitation
Technique, Survey Rating) were used to select a destination with com­
mon characteristics across the three countries, and a celebrity in each
country with similar levels of credibility. Next, the procedure for the
creation of the stimuli for the experiments is discussed.
S. Roy et al.
3.3.3. Treatments
Study 1 used a 2 (Advertisement type: Generic vs. Endorser) x 3
(Country: India vs. Brazil vs. Poland) full factorial between-subject
design. Fictitious print advertisements were used for treatments that
were designed jointly by the researchers and a graphic designer to make
them look like real advertisements. Six treatments were thus oper­
ationalized in this manner. All the advertisements had similar layouts
with the destination in the background and the celebrity in the fore­
ground, closest possible graphics, and similar wording and length of text
to minimize extraneous variances (Refer to Figs. 2–7 for sample adver­
tisements from all studies). The treatment booklet contained an opening
brief followed by the focal advertisement. This was followed by the
measures of the dependent variables and the manipulations checks. The
final page contained questions related to respondents’ demographics.
3.3.4. Variables and measures
The dependent variables for Study 1 were the attitude towards the
advertisement (AD), attitude towards the destination (AB), and visiting
intention (VI). Based on prior literature, both cognitive and affective
components of attitude towards the advertisement were measured. Five
items were used to measure the cognitive component: unpersuasi­
ve–persuasive, uninformative–informative, unbelievable–believable,
ineffective–effective, and unconvincing–convincing (Burton and Lich­
tenstein, 1988; van der Veen and Song, 2014). Likewise, five items were
used to measure the affective component: bad–good, unappea­
ling–appealing, unattractive–attractive, unpleasant–pleasant, and unli­
kable–likable (Janiszewski, 1988; van der Veen and Song, 2014).
Attitude towards the destination was measured using a five-item se­
mantic differential scale that was adopted from MacKenzie and Lutz
(1989) but was used in the context of destination marketing by van der
Veen and Song (2014). The participants were asked to respond to the
question, “How would you describe your overall attitude towards XX
(destination) after watching this ad?”. The responses were recorded on:
good–bad, like–dislike, pleasant–unpleasant, positive–negative, and
favorable-unfavorable. Similarly, to measure visit intention, re­
spondents were asked: “How likely is it that you will visit XX (destina­
tion) in the next 12 months?”, followed by the items:
probable–improbable, likely–unlikely, and possible–impossible (Lam
and Hsu, 2006; van der Veen and Song, 2014). The same source credi­
bility measures used in pre-test 2 were used for manipulation check. An
additional question asked “Do you recognize the celebrity?”. Besides
these, there were questions on respondent demographics.
Fig. 2. Generic Ad, Poland.
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Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
3.3.5. Data collection
Study 1 (and the other studies) was a controlled experiment con­
ducted among a sample of adult respondents (Please refer to Table 1 for
sample demographics of all the studies). The use of student respondents
in experiments was criticized by Vargas et al. (2017), as they limit
generalizability. Thus, a more general audience was needed to add
robustness to the findings. In this pursuit, judgmental sampling was used
and the researchers approached relevant respondents with an incentive
to participate in the experiment. The screening criteria were two: 1) The
respondent had not visited the respective destination (in the treatment)
in the last ten years, and 2) The respondent was planning to take a
vacation in the next one year. The researchers themselves supervised the
sample selection and the conduction of the experiment. The shortlisted
participants (in each country) were asked to assemble at the research lab
(in this case, the university) at a specified date and time. Once assem­
bled, they were assigned randomly to one of the two treatment rooms
where the researchers/trained assistants of the researchers ran the
experiment. Initially, the respondents were given an oral brief (and in
print on the first page of the treatment booklet). This was followed by a
print advertisement in the next page that the respondents were asked to
view for a minute. The subsequent pages had the dependent variable
(DV), manipulation checks, and respondent demographics. When the
respondents finished, they were thanked, debriefed, given a gift coupon
from a city store and the session was closed. The total sample size in
study 1 was 217 (approximately 70 respondents per country and 35 per
treatment group).
3.4. Results
The manipulation checks did not reveal any significant difference in
the endorser credibility across the countries (F = 0.69, p > 0.1). Thus,
the manipulations were successful. A multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA) was first run to identify the effects of the treatments on the
dependent variables at an overall level. Following this, individual
ANOVAs for each of the four dependent variables were conducted to
assess the effect of treatments and the interactions.
The MANOVA results found a significant main effect of the adver­
tisement type (i.e., generic vs. celebrity) (F4,208 = 1152.79, p < 0.01) at
the overall level. However, the ‘advertisement type × country interac­
tion’ was also found to be significant (F8,216 = 10.77, p < 0.01). To
better understand the data pattern, individual ANOVAs and between-
cell contrasts were examined. The ANOVA results are presented
S. Roy et al. Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213

Fig. 3. Celebrity Ad, Poland.

Fig. 4. Celebrity Ad, Brazil.

separately for each dependent variable.
3.4.1. Cognitive attitude toward the ad (CA)
Consistent with the MANOVA findings, the ANOVA results indicated
a significant effect of advertisement type (F1,211 = 1547.51, p < 0.01)
and the interaction term (F2,211 = 9.38, p < 0.01) on the cognitive
attitude. Planned contrasts revealed that the celebrity ad (subscript C)
was more effective than the generic ad (subscript G) for all countries
(MCIndia = 4.01; MGIndia = 1.99; tC-G = 25.86; p < 0.01), (MCBrazil = 3.96;
MGBrazil = 2.02; tC-G = 22.86; p < 0.01) and (MCPoland = 4.03; MGPoland =
2.47; tC-G = 18.38; p < 0.01). However, the average difference between
attitudes generated by the generic ad and the celebrity ad was less in
Poland compared to India and Brazil (the possible reason behind the
significant interaction effect).
3.4.2. Affective attitude toward the ad (AA)
The results indicated a similar effect of advertisement type (F1,211 =
1211.22, p < 0.01) and the interaction (F2,211 = 19.98, p < 0.01) on the
affective attitude. Planned contrasts revealed that the celebrity ad was
more effective than the generic ad for all countries (MCIndia = 4.03;

6
S. Roy et al. Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213

Fig. 5. Celebrity Ad, India.

Fig. 6. Study 2, global celebrity, India.

7
S. Roy et al. Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213

Fig. 7. Study 4, global celebrity, international destination.

contrasts revealed similar findings as CA and AA (MCIndia = 3.97; MGIndia

Table 1
= 1.97; tC-G = 21.69; p < 0.01), (MCBrazil = 4.02; MGBrazil = 1.94; tC-G =
Sample Demographics (all countries combined).
21.01; p < 0.01) and (MCPoland = 3.91; MGPoland = 2.39; tC-G = 15.35; p
Demographics Study 1 Study 2 Study 3 Study 4 < 0.01).
Gender
Male 113 118 109 218 3.4.4. Visit intention (VI)
Female 104 103 112 196
Even in this case, there was a significant effect of advertisement type
Age
18-25 41 44 43 81 (F1,211 = 708.79, p < 0.01) and the interaction term (F2,211 = 8.71, p <
25-35 44 42 41 85 0.01) on the visit intentions towards the respective destination. Planned
35-45 53 60 59 102 contrasts revealed findings (MCIndia = 4.05; MGIndia = 1.95; tC-G = 17.44;
45-55 46 45 48 91 p < 0.01), (MCBrazil = 4.01; MGBrazil = 1.96; tC-G = 16.43; p < 0.01) and
55 and above 33 30 29 55
(MCPoland = 3.99; MGPoland = 2.53; tC-G = 11.47; p < 0.01) quite similar
Occupation
Private Service 52 51 53 100 to the previous cases.
Government Service 44 42 44 70
Self Employed 62 68 63 131 4. Discussion
Student 33 32 35 67
Homemaker 17 15 12 26
Others 9 13 13 20 The aim of Study 1 was to determine whether consumers would be
Number of domestic leisure trips in a year more influenced by a celebrity endorsed tourism advertisement vis a vis
0 26 22 24 41 a generic advertisement and whether this effect would be varying across
1-3 168 169 172 352 countries. The findings indicated that irrespective of the country, a ce­
3 and above 23 20 24 21
lebrity endorsed advertisement would be more effective than a generic
Number of foreign leisure trips in a year
0 76 69 78 147 tourism advertisement in creating consumer attitudes and affect.
1-3 124 127 120 243 Thereby, support for H1 (a through c) was found and it could be inferred
3 and above 17 25 22 24 that celebrities bring additional value to the advertisements, leading to
Note: All studies had unique sample without any overlap of respondents. more favorable consumer attitudes. In the case of all four dependent
variables, similar effects were observed. However, this brings us to the
MGIndia = 1.99; tC-G = 22.79; p < 0.01), (MCBrazil = 4.09; MGBrazil = 1.98; next question on the type of celebrity to be used. While countries have
tC-G = 22.24; p < 0.01) and (MCPoland = 3.97; MGPoland = 2.59; tC-G = ; p the option to use a local or a global celebrity, which celebrity would be
< 0.01). preferred more by domestic consumers (in case they are exposed to both
communication)? This leads to study 2.
3.4.3. Attitude toward the destination (AD
The results here also showed a significant effect of advertisement
type (F1,211 = 1084.44, p < 0.01) and the interaction term (F2,211 = 9.42,
p < 0.01) on the attitude towards the respective destination. Planned

8
S. Roy et al.
5. Study 2
5.1. Rationale
A significant volume of research explored the concept of celebrity-
brand congruence or fit and its influence on consumer attitudes. The
congruence hypothesis originated in psychology, where Mandler (1982)
defined congruence as ‘a structural correspondence between two en­
tities.’ Researchers in marketing and consumer behavior afterward have
considered ‘congruence’ as a ‘match’ between two entities or simply a
measure of two entities going together. Several domains in marketing
research have explored the effects of congruence between two or more
entities and its effect on the consumers such as, product design (Wänke
et al., 2007); brand extensions (Kim and John, 2008); retailing (Span­
genberg et al., 2006) and sponsorships (Weeks et al., 2008). Celebrity
endorsement researchers are one of the highest users of this theory.
Notable examples include Kamins, (1990), Mittelstaedt et al. (2000), Till
et al. (2008), and Roy and Bagdare (2015). Most of these studies found
perceived congruence between a celebrity and a brand to generate more
favorable consumer attitudes than an incongruent pair. However, re­
searchers have subsequently investigated the congruence between ce­
lebrity and the consumer at multiple levels of attributes. For example,
Chang (2008) found consumers to express stronger perceptions towards
the advertisement when there was a match between the chronological
age of the endorser and the consumer. However, Carlson et al. (2020)
found identification of the consumer with an endorser to be more
important than the enodorser-brand ‘fit’. Consumers who strongly
identify with the endorser respond positively to the recommendation,
even if the match between the endorser and the brand is poor. In
addition, identification with the endorser is consistently linked to pur­
chase intentions over multiple time points.
Similarly, Roy et al. (2015) found women consumers to have stron­
ger attitudes and purchase intentions towards a celebrity endorser who
matched their chronological age. Continuing this line of thought, Roy
et al. (2019) extended congruence to celebrity-consumer fit based on the
country of origin. Uy and Wu (2020) indicated the importance of the
congruence of the celebrity’s and consumer’s country of origin, but also
pointed to the fact that the effect of localized (vs. standardized) celebrity
endorsements depended greatly on the patriotism of an individual. It
could be argued that a match or congruence between the country of
origin of the celebrity and the consumer would heighten the consumers’
attitudes and evaluations of the destination. Thus, it is argued that a
local celebrity would be more preferred for a destination within the
country for the domestic consumers (and thereby oppose the use of
foreign celebrities). Thus, the next set of hypotheses of the study are
proposed as:
H2a A local celebrity endorser would be more effective in generating
positive consumer cognitive and affective attitudes towards the
destination advertisement compared to a global celebrity.
H2b A local celebrity endorser would be more effective in generating
positive consumer attitudes towards the destination compared to
a global celebrity.
H2c A local celebrity endorser would be more effective in generating
positive destination visiting intentions compared to a global
celebrity.
5.2. The experiment
Study 2 used the same dependent variables as used in study 1.
However, the independent variable in this study was the celebrity type
(manipulated as local/global). The other independent variables: the
country and the destination were retained from study 1. Thereby, a 2
(celebrity: local vs. global) X 3 (country: India/Brazil/Poland) full
factorial design was used. Pre-test 3 was conducted with the objective of
selecting the global celebrity. A sample of 100 respondents in each
9
Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
country was asked to name their three favorite global sports celebrities.
Based on the frequency counts in each country and commonality across
countries, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo was selected as the global ce­
lebrity. The generic ad in each country was replaced with the global
celebrity (e.g., Fig. 6). The main experiment was conducted in the same
fashion in each country as in study 1 but with a new sample (sample size:
221, approximately 35 respondents per cell).
5.3. Results
The first test was for any possible difference in the endorser credi­
bility within the country. Paired t-tests comparing mean credibility of
the global to the local celebrity did not reveal any significant difference
(India: tL-G = 0.37, p > 0.1; Brazil: tL-G = 0.32, p > 0.1; Poland: tL-G =
0.41, p > 0.1)1. The ANOVA results also did not show any significant
difference in any celebrity across the countries. Thus, the manipulations
were successful. Similar to study 1, a multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA) was run first, followed by individual ANOVAs for each of the
four dependent variables.
The MANOVA results indicated a significant main effect of the ce­
lebrity type (i.e. local vs. global) (F5,211 = 10.18, p < 0.01) at the overall
level. However, a significant effect of the country (F10,422 = 9.76, p <
0.01) and the ‘celebrity type x country’ interaction (F10,422 = 156.67, p
< 0.01) was also observed. To better understand the patterns in the
results, individual ANOVAs and between-cell contrasts were examined.
5.3.1. Cognitive attitude toward the ad
Consistent with the MANOVA findings, the ANOVA results indicated
a significant effect of celebrity type (F1,215 = 6.74, p < 0.01), country
(F2,215 = 18.67, p < 0.01) and the interaction term (F2,215 = 558.25, p <
0.01) on the cognitive attitude. Planned contrasts (Fig. 8a) revealed that
the effect of the celebrity was varying with country (MLIndia = 2.07;
MGIndia = 4.05; tL-G = 25.35; p < 0.01), (MLBrazil = 2.01; MGBrazil = 4.07;
tL-G = 22.34; p < 0.01) and (MLPoland = 2.88; MGPoland = 2.57; tL-G =
3.65; p < 0.05). The global celebrity was more effective in India while
the local celebrity was more effective in Brazil. On the other hand, both
celebrities were close to each other in creating consumer attitudes at the
cognitive plane in Poland.
5.3.2. Affective Attitude toward the ad
Similar to the cognitive attitude, the ANOVA results for affective
attitude towards the ad indicated a significant effect of celebrity type
(F1,215 = 9.97, p < 0.01), country (F2,215 = 9.46, p < 0.01) and the
interaction term (F2,215 = 434.01, p < 0.01). Comparable to cognitive
attitude, planned contrasts (Fig. 8b) revealed that the effect of the ce­
lebrity was varying with country (MLIndia = 1.99; MGIndia = 3.98; tL-G =
21.09; p < 0.01), (MLBrazil = 4.03; MGBrazil = 1.95; tL-G = 19.57; p < 0.01)
and (MLPoland = 2.95; MGPoland = 2.49; tL-G = 0.82; p > 0.10). Thus, even
here the global celebrity was more effective in India while the local
celebrity was more effective in Brazil and there was no significant dif­
ference in the consumer attitudes in Poland (for the local and global
celebrities).
5.3.3. Attitude toward the destination
Similar to attitudes towards the ad, a significant effect of celebrity
type (F1,215 = 25.92.74, p < 0.01), country (F2,215 = 13.42, p < 0.01)
and the interaction term (F2,215 = 533.36, p < 0.01) was observed on the
attitudes towards the destination. Planned contrasts (Fig. 8c) revealed
that the effect of the celebrity was varying with country (MLIndia = 2.02;
MGIndia = 3.95; tL-G = 24.71; p < 0.01), (MLBrazil = 4.03; MGBrazil = 2.01;
tL-G = 20.41; p < 0.01) and (MLPoland = 3.07; MGPoland = 2.38; tL-G =
8.13; p < 0.01), and the results were very similar to those of the attitudes
towards the ad.
1
L = Local Celebrity; G = Global Celebrity.
S. Roy et al.
Fig. 8. a): Study 2, DV: CA; IV: Celebrity Type, Country. b): Study 2, DV: AA; IV: Celebrity Type, Country. c): Study 2, DV: AD; IV: Celebrity Type, Country. d): Study
2, DV: VI; IV: Celebrity Type, Country.
5.3.4. Visit intention
In consonance to the attitudes, a significant effect of celebrity type
(F1,215 = 8.88, p < 0.01), country (F2,215 = 7.72, p < 0.01) and the
interaction term (F2,215 = 265.74, p < 0.01) was observed on the visit
intentions. Planned contrasts (Fig. 8d) revealed findings (MLIndia = 2.09;
MGIndia = 3.97; tL-G = 16.49; p < 0.01), (MLBrazil = 3.93; MGBrazil = 2.08;
tL-G = 15.36; p < 0.01) and (MLPoland = 3.06; MGPoland = 2.41; tL-G =
5.40; p < 0.01) very similar to the other DVs.
5.4. Discussion
To summarize, the global celebrity was more effective in India while
the local celebrity was more effective in Brazil at an overall level. On the
other hand, both celebrities were close to each other on their effec­
tiveness in Poland. Thereby, H2 (a through c) was not supported. This
implies that the choice of a celebrity for destination marketing may not
work universally for all countries. Given that there was no significant
difference in the celebrity credibility across the celebrity type (local vs.
global) and countries, it could be argued that there was some consumer
level variable that was instrumental behind such findings. Kim and
Richardson (2003) called for research that investigates the underlying
mechanism that influences the consumers in the context of destination
marketing. Hence, study 3 was conducted to explore the possible causes
leading to such findings.
6. Study 3
6.1. Rationale
To explain the cross-country differences in the effectiveness of the
local vs. global celebrity, inferences may be drawn from social identity
10
Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
theory (Tajfel and John, 1986). Scholars in social-identity theory opine
that human beings respond favorably to those stimuli that are consistent
with their accessible identity (i.e., the identity whose mental represen­
tations are salient) (Reicher et al., 2012; Tajfel and Turner, 1986). For
example, researchers in consumer ethnicity found consumers high on
their ethnic identity (or having it accessible) to respond more favorably
to advertisements where the spokesperson’s ethnic identity matches
with the consumers’ ethnic identity (Deshpandé and Stayman, 1994;
Forehand et al., 2002). In similar thoughts, researchers found brand
associations that are consistent with the cultural identity of the target
consumers to create more favorable consumer attitude towards the same
brands (Aaker et al., 2001). Wheeler et al. (2005) explain this phe­
nomenon using consumer psychology. They opine that consumers tend
to preserve positive self-views, and thereby, identity-consistent infor­
mation is evaluated as more relevant for processing objectives such as
brand attitudes and hence is given greater valence than
identity-inconsistent information.
In this context, Arnett (2002) proposed the concept of local and
global identities while discussing the psychological consequences of
globalization on consumers. Arnett (2002) proposed that consumers
tend to have both local and global identities with different valence
depending on their environment. He conceptualized local identity as a
mental representation in which individuals ‘had faith in and respect for
local traditions and customs, recognized the uniqueness of local com­
munities and were interested in local events’. On the other hand, global
identity consisted of mental representations, where the individuals
believed in the beneficial effects of globalization, recognized more
commonalities (with the global community) rather than differences, and
were interested in global culture and events. In a world that is getting
increasingly globalized, a consumer’s global and local identity may be
important for his/her product decisions. Consumers oriented with local
S. Roy et al. Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213

identity would feel one with their local community and identify with Table 2
local ways of life. On the contrary, consumers high on global identity PROCESS results: Study 3.
would feel themselves to be a part of the global community and identify DV IV β (S.E.) t value R2
with global lifestyles (Tu et al., 2012). Interestingly, this has been a
Cognitive Attitude (CA) Celebrity − 14.45 − 18.59** 0.83
scarcely researched area in celebrity endorsement. (0.78)
Based on the premise, consumers high on global identity should be Country − 7.37 − 14.27**
more affected by a global celebrity, whereas consumers high on local (0.52)
identity should be more affected by a local celebrity. This might explain LGI − 13.67 − 20.59**
(0.66)
the findings from study 2. Thereby, the next set of hypotheses is pro­ Celebrity X 4.68 (0.32) 14.49**
posed as: Country
Celebrity X LGI 8.84 (0.41) 21.47**
H3a A consumer’s local/global identity would moderate the effect of Country X LGI 4.58 (0.29) 16.05**
Celebrity X − 2.96 − 16.57**
the celebrity endorser (local/global) on the cognitive and affec­
Country X LGI (0.18)
tive attitude towards the destination advertisement. Affective Attitude (AA) Celebrity − 12.10 − 16.56** 0.81
H3b A consumer’s local/global identity would moderate the effect of (0.78)
the celebrity endorser (local/global) on attitudes towards the Country − 6.58 − 12.61**
destination. (0.52)
LGI − 12.38 − 18.47**
H3c A consumer’s local/global identity would moderate the effect of (0.67)
the celebrity endorser (local/global) on the visiting intentions. Celebrity X 4.24 (0.33) 13.02**
Country
6.2. The experiment Celebrity X LGI 8.13 (0.42) 19.57**
Country X LGI 4.20 (0.29) 14.55**
Celebrity X − 2.78 − 15.40**
Study 3 used the same treatments with the same independent and Country X LGI (0.18)
dependent variables used in study 2. The only added variable was a Attitude Towards Celebrity − 14.15 − 17.47** 0.80
measure of local-global identity (LGI), adapted from the short (8 items) Destination (AD) (0.81)
local-global identity scale by Tu et al. (2012). Thereby, a 2 (celebrity: Country − 7.13 − 13.24**
(0.54)
local vs. global) X 3 (country: India/Brazil/Poland) full factorial design LGI − 13.09 − 18.92**
with moderator LGI was applied in study 3. The main experiment was (0.69)
conducted in the same way in each country as done in studies 1 and 2 Celebrity X 4.63 (0.34) 13.77**
(with a new set of respondents). The total sample size in study 3 was 220 Country
Celebrity X LGI 8.62 (0.43 20.09**
(with approximately 35 respondents per cell).
Country X LGI 4.39 (0.30) 14.74**
Celebrity X − 2.92 − 15.68**
6.3. Results Country X LGI (0.19)
Visit Intention (VI) Celebrity − 13.51 − 13.24** 0.73
Since the moderating effect of LGI on consumer attitudes was of in­ (1.02)
Country − 6.68 − 9.86**
terest, Process (Hayes, 2013) was used instead of regular MANOVA in (0.68)
study 3. Thus, independent linear regression models for all four DVs LGI − 12.66 − 14.53**
using PROCESS Model 3 (Hayes, 2013) was run. Both country and the (0.87)
celebrity type were included as independent variables, and LGI was Celebrity X 4.40 (0.42) 10.38**
Country
included as the moderator. All two-way interactions and the three-way
Celebrity X LGI 8.43 (0.54) 15.60**
(country X celebrity X LGI) interaction were also included (Table 2). Country X LGI 4.30 (0.37) 11.48**
Similar results were observed for all the DVs. Thus, the results for visit Celebrity X − 2.87 − 12.20**
intentions (VI) are reported here (the others are reported in Table 2). A Country X LGI (0.23)
reasonably high R square was observed (R2 = 0.73; F7,213 = 81.21; p < Note: LGI = Local/Global Identity; ** implies p < 0.01.
0.01) that implied that the regression results were acceptable. The main
effect of the celebrity (β = − 13.51; p < 0.01) and the country (β =
with locally oriented consumers. Thereby, H3 (a through c) was sup­
− 6.68; p < 0.01) were significant on VI, as was the main effect of LGI (β
ported. However, one question remained. What would be the choice of
= − 12.66; p < 0.01). However, the negative effects signified the pos­
the celebrity endorser for the consumers in a country for an international
sibility of an interaction. The two-way interactions were all positive and
tourist destination? There are instances of endorsers who have the same
significant, i.e. Celebrity X Country (β = 4.39; p < 0.01); Celebrity X LGI
country of origin as the tourist destination (e.g. Chris Hemsworth for
(β = 8.43; p < 0.01); Country X LGI (β = 4.3; p < 0.01). Finally, a
Australia) and same country of origin as the target county (e.g. Ranveer
negative three-way interaction effect Celebrity X Country X LGI (β =
Singh for Switzerland). Thus, it warrants an investigation of which type
− 2.86; p < 0.01) was noted, which indicated that some of the two-way
would be more effective and whether there would be any consumer level
interactions were effectively suppressed depending on the celebrity type
factors that would influence this effect. This question leads to the final
or the country (to be specific, individual characteristics of the re­
study.
spondents belonging to that country). The results were replicated for all
the dependent variables.
7. Study 4

6.4. Discussion
7.1. Rationale

The findings from study 3 indicated that there is no ‘one size fits all’
The arguments in study 4 stem from the congruence theory. Ac­
strategy. In other words, the choice of a celebrity endorser for a tourist
cording to the congruence theory, a fit between the endorser and the
destination may not be universally applicable and would depend on the
product would increase consumer evaluations (Choi and Rifon, 2012;
consumer levels factors in a particular country. A global celebrity would
Mishra et al., 2015; Roy and Bagdare, 2015; Roy et al., 2015). Thus, a
be more effective in a country where consumers are more globally ori­
celebrity congruent with the destination (in terms of belonging to the
ented, whereas a local celebrity would be more preferred in a country

11
S. Roy et al.
same country) would generate more favorable consumer evaluations.
This is named as C-D congruence. However, if one considers congruence
between the endorser and the target audience (as in Roy et al., 2015), it
would suggest that a celebrity congruent with the target audience (in
terms of belonging to the same country) would be more effective. This is
named as C–C congruence. This creates a paradox. C-D congruence
suggests the use of a local celebrity for a local destination and a global
celebrity for an international destination to the same target audience.
On the other hand, C–C congruence suggests the use of a local celebrity
irrespective of the destination (again to the same audience).
Given this paradox, the construct of consumer cosmopolitanism is
introduced. The word cosmopolitanism is derived from the Greek
‘kosmopolitês’ that means ‘citizen of the world’ (Turner, 2002). In the
context of marketing, Cleveland et al. (2014) defined cosmopolitanism
as “a learned disposition: a general orientation reflecting a set of values,
opinions, and competencies held by certain individuals; specifically, a
genuine, humanitarian appreciation for, desire to learn from and ability
to engage with, peoples of different cultures” (p. 269). Consumer
cosmopolitanism is becoming increasingly significant with rapid glob­
alization and is being used for segmenting consumers within nations and
at a global level (Cleveland et al., 2009, 2014; Nijssen and Douglas,
2008).
Highly cosmopolitan consumers would be more open towards other
people and cultures and would be interested to learn from them (Levy
and Sznaider, 2007). They would also appreciate the cross-cultural
differences and treat them as a variety (Featherstone, 2002). Highly
cosmopolitan individuals are more willing to engage personally with
other cultures with the objective understanding nuances of other cul­
tures (Nijssen and Douglas, 2008). Hence, they “are positively disposed
towards consuming products from different countries” (Riefler et al.,
2012, p. 287). Cosmopolitan consumers display a favorable stance to­
ward products and services from different countries (Riefler et al.,
2012). Since they are more oriented towards the global consumer cul­
ture, they continuously indulge in products, places, and experiences
originating from foreign cultures (Riefler et al., 2012). Thereby, they
respond positively to positioning strategies that highlight global con­
sumer culture (Alden et al., 1999; 2006) and more likely to consume
products originating from foreign places and culture (Alden et al., 1999;
Cleveland et al., 2009). The same may be applicable for tourists as
tourism is highly related to foreign places, people, culture and traditions
(Hannerz, 1990).
Now, congruence theory and cosmopolitanism are brought together
to build the case for study 4. C-D congruence suggests the use of a ce­
lebrity matching with the destination (country of origin). C–C congru­
ence suggests the use of a local celebrity irrespective of the destination.
It could be argued that for the more cosmopolitan consumer, using a
foreign celebrity endorser may show a greater connection with global
consumer culture, and consequently generate favorable consumer atti­
tudes (e.g. Roy et al., 2019; Steenkamp et al., 2003). Thus, high
cosmopolitanism may override C–C congruence and even C-D congru­
ence for the case where the celebrity is local. For the less cosmopoli­
tanism consumer, C–C congruence would surely hold, while C-D
congruence may suffer for the global celebrity. Thereby, the congruence
theory in tourism advertising would hold but would be influenced by
consumer cosmopolitanism. Summarizing the argument, the next set of
hypotheses are proposed:
H4a A celebrity congruent with the destination (in terms of country of
origin), will generate more favorable cognitive and affective
attitude towards the advertisement as compared to an incon­
gruent celebrity.
H4b A celebrity congruent with the destination (in terms of country of
origin), will generate more favorable attitudes towards the
destination as compared to an incongruent celebrity.
12
Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
H4c A celebrity congruent with the destination (in terms of country of
origin), will generate more favorable destination visiting in­
tentions as compared to an incongruent celebrity.
H5 The effect mentioned in H4 (a through c) will be moderated by
consumer cosmopolitanism.
7.2. The experiment
Study 4 used the same dependent variables used in the previous
studies (i.e., cognitive and affective attitudes; attitudes toward desti­
nation and visit intention). The new independent variable was the
destination type (manipulated as Domestic vs. International). The
additional measure in study 4 was cosmopolitanism (COS), adapted
from the short 5-item cosmopolitanism scale of Cleveland et al. (2014)
that was found valid in multiple cultures [sample items: I like to observe
people of other cultures, to see what I can learn from them; I enjoy
exchanging ideas with people from other cultures and countries;
measured on a Likert scale (1 strongly agree … …..5 strongly disagree)].
Thereby, study 4 had a 2 (celebrity: local vs. global) X 3 (country:
India/Brazil/Poland) X 2 (destination: domestic vs. international) full
factorial design with moderator cosmopolitanism.
Pre-test 4 was conducted to select an international destination. A
sample of 80 respondents from each country was asked to write their
three favorite international destinations (country) that they would like
to visit. Based on frequency counts and commonality across the three
countries, the UK was selected as the international destination. Next,
pre-test 5 was conducted to select the global celebrity for the interna­
tional destination. Thus, a fresh sample of 75 respondents from each
country was asked to write the name of three UK born celebrities that
they would like to see as the ambassador for UK tourism. Based on
frequency counts and commonality of the profession (with the other
celebrities), selected soccer star David Beckham was selected as the in­
ternational celebrity. Bournemouth was selected as the UK tourist
destination for the treatment. Bournemouth is a beach destination and
has been rated as one of the best beach destinations in the UK and also at
par with the other destinations. David Beckham was shown endorsing
Bournemouth for the treatment advertisement for the international
destination (e.g. Fig. 7) while he was replaced by the local celebrity
(concerning the country) for the other treatment group.
The main experiment was conducted using the same procedure in
each country as done in the previous studies (with a different sample).
The total sample size in study 4 was 414 (with approximately 35 re­
spondents per cell). In this case, first MANOVA and ANOVA tests were
run to identify the attitudinal patterns and reveal country-specific
findings (if any). Subsequently, PROCESS model 3 (Hayes, 2013) was
applied to identify the strength and direction (if any) of the moderation
effects.
7.3. Results
First, tests for any possible difference in the endorser credibility
within country was conducted. Paired t tests comparing mean credibility
of the global to the local celebrity did not reveal any significant differ­
ence (India: tL-G = 0.55, p > 0.1; Brazil: tL-G = 0.63, p > 0.1; Poland: tL-G
= 0.92, p > 0.1) similar to study 2 and 3.
The MANOVA results indicated a significant effect of the country
(F8,798 = 23.94, p < 0.01), the celebrity type (F4,399 = 579.85, p < 0.01)
and the destination type (F4,399 = 89.07, p < 0.01). A significant effect of
all two-way interactions, i.e. Country X Celebrity (F8,798 = 152.4, p <
0.01); Country X Destination (F8,798 = 70.33, p < 0.01); and Celebrity X
Destination (F4,399 = 817.84, p < 0.01) was observed. A significant
three-way interaction of Country X Celebrity X Destination (F8,798 =
153.23, p < 0.01) was also observed. Next, the individual dependent
variables were investigated (to avoid repetitiveness and save space, the
interaction plots only for cognitive attitude towards the ad and visit
intentions are provided).
S. Roy et al.
7.3.1. Cognitive attitude Towards the ad
Consistent with the MANOVA findings, the ANOVA results indicated
a significant effect of the country (F2,402 = 29.67, p < 0.01), the celebrity
type (F1,402 = 699.14, p < 0.01) and the destination type (F1,402 =
122.08, p < 0.01). All the two way interactions were also found sig­
nificant, i.e. Country X Celebrity (F2,402 = 338.16, p < 0.01); Country X
Destination (F2,402 = 98.16, p < 0.01); and Celebrity X Destination
(F1,402 = 861.28, p < 0.01) as was the three-way interaction of Country
X Celebrity X Destination (F2,402 = 259.09, p < 0.01). To better un­
derstand the three-way interaction, mean comparisons taking one
country at a time was conducted (Fig. 9a).
At first, the case of India is considered. Both for the domestic and
international destination, a global celebrity is preferred over the local
celebrity (domestic: MLDomestic = 2.00; MGDomestic = 4.01; tL-G = 23.69; p
< 0.01; international: MLInternational = 2.01; MGInternational = 4.10; tL-G =
24.63; p < 0.01). Next, the case of Brazil is considered. Here, the local
celebrity was found to be more effective for the local destination
(MLDomestic = 3.89; MGDomestic = 2.06; tL-G = 21.57; p < 0.01) and the
global celebrity to be more effective for the international destination
(MLInternational = 2.03; MGInternational = 3.98; tL-G = 22.98; p < 0.01). The
findings from Poland was different from both India and Brazil. The
global celebrity was found to be more effective for the international
destination (MLInternational = 2.52; MGInternational = 3.98; tL-G = 17.21; p <
0.01) while the local celebrity was found to be marginally more effective
than the global celebrity for a domestic destination (MLDomestic = 2.48;
MGDomestic = 2.01; tL-G = 6.02; p < 0.01).
7.3.2. Affective attitude Towards the ad
The ANOVA results for affective attitude were similar to that of the
cognitive attitudes. A significant effect of the country (F2,402 = 21.66, p
< 0.01), the celebrity type (F1,402 = 563.21, p < 0.01) and the desti­
nation type (F1,402 = 85.63, p < 0.01) was observed. All the two way
interactions were also found significant, i.e. Country X Celebrity (F2,402
= 259.07, p < 0.01); Country X Destination (F2,402 = 84.26, p < 0.01);
and Celebrity X Destination (F1,402 = 817.90, p < 0.01) as was the three-
way interaction of Country X Celebrity X Destination (F2,402 = 310.83, p
Fig. 9. a. Study 4. DV: CA; IV: Destination and Celebrity, for India, Brazil, Poland. b). Study 4. DV: VI; IV: Destination and Celebrity, for India, Brazil, Poland.
13
Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
< 0.01). To better understand the three-way interaction, mean com­
parisons taking one country at a time was conducted.
Results were very similar to that of cognitive attitudes. In India, the
global celebrity was preferred over the local celebrity for both the des­
tinations (domestic: MLDomestic = 1.96; MGDomestic = 3.98; tL-G = 23.81; p
< 0.01; international: MLInternational = 2.09; MGInternational = 3.94; tL-G =
21.80; p < 0.01). For Brazil, the local celebrity was more effective for
the local destination (MLDomestic = 4.08; MGDomestic = 2.05; tL-G = 22.02;
p < 0.01) and the global celebrity for the international destination
(MLInternational = 1.96; MGInternational = 4.11; tL-G = 25.34; p < 0.01). For
Poland, the global celebrity was more preferred for the international
destination (MLInternational = 2.51; MGInternational = 4.02; tL-G = 17.80; p <
0.01) while the local celebrity was found to be marginally more effective
for a domestic destination (MLDomestic = 2.56; MGDomestic = 2.05; tL-G =
6.01; p < 0.01).
7.3.3. Attitude towards the destination
The ANOVA results for attitude towards the destination were similar
to that of the consumer attitudes. A significant effect of the country
(F2,402 = 24.38, p < 0.01), the celebrity type (F1,402 = 576.65, p < 0.01)
and the destination type (F1,402 = 94.88, p < 0.01) was observed. All the
two way interactions were found significant, i.e. Country X Celebrity
(F2,402 = 286.83, p < 0.01); Country X Destination (F2,402 = 106.83, p <
0.01); and Celebrity X Destination (F1,402 = 896.88, p < 0.01) as was the
three-way interaction of Country X Celebrity X Destination (F2,402 =
291.26, p < 0.01). To better understand the three-way interaction, mean
comparisons taking one country at a time was performed.
Results were very similar to that of attitudes. In India, the global
celebrity was preferred over the local celebrity for both the destinations
(domestic: MLDomestic = 1.99; MGDomestic = 3.95; tL-G = 23.10; p < 0.01;
international: MLInternational = 2.01; MGInternational = 3.98; tL-G = 23.22; p
< 0.01). For Brazil, the local celebrity was more effective for the do­
mestic destination (MLDomestic = 4.11; MGDomestic = 2.06; tL-G = 24.16; p
< 0.01) and the global celebrity for the international destination
(MLInternational = 1.99; MGInternational = 4.07; tL-G = 24.51; p < 0.01). For
Poland, the global celebrity was more preferred for the international
S. Roy et al. Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213

destination (MLInternational = 2.53; MGInternational = 4.06; tL-G = 18.03; p < Table 3

0.01) while the local celebrity was found to be marginally more effective PROCESS results: Study 4.
for a domestic destination (MLDomestic = 2.52; MGDomestic = 1.99; tL-G = DV IV β (S.E.) t value R2
6.25; p < 0.01).
Cognitive Attitude (CA) Celebrity − 5.73 − 9.90** 0.63
(0.58)
7.3.4. Visit intention Destination − 3.74 − 5.84**
The ANOVA results for visit intentions were similar to that of the (0.59)
consumer attitudes. There was a significant effect of the country (F2,402 COS − 1.08 − 4.11**
(0.26)
= 24.53, p < 0.01), the celebrity type (F1,402 = 375.12, p < 0.01) and the Celebrity X 3.38 9.02**
destination type (F1,402 = 40.60, p < 0.01). All the two way interactions Destination (0.37)
were significant, i.e. Country X Celebrity (F2,402 = 146.67, p < 0.01); Celebrity X COS 1.16 6.99**
Country X Destination (F2,402 = 71.25, p < 0.01); and Celebrity X (0.17)
Destination X COS 0.32 1.87˟
Destination (F1,402 = 548.37, p < 0.01) as was the three-way interaction
(0.17)
of Country X Celebrity X Destination (F2,402 = 172.18, p < 0.01). Next, Celebrity X − 0.46 − 4.28**
mean comparisons taking one country at a time was performed to un­ Destination X COS (0.11)
derstand three-way interactions (Fig. 9b). Affective Attitude (AA) Celebrity − 6.10 − 9.85** 0.59
Results were very similar to that of attitudes. In India, the global (0.78)
Destination − 3.97 − 6.25**
celebrity was preferred over the local celebrity irrespective of the (0.52)
destination (domestic: MLDomestic = 2.02; MGDomestic = 3.91; tL-G = 17.78; COS − 1.19 − 4.23**
p < 0.01; international: MLInternational = 2.08; MGInternational = 3.97; tL-G (0.67)
= 19.09; p < 0.01). In Brazil, the local celebrity was more effective for Celebrity X 3.71 9.26**
Destination (0.33)
the local destination (MLDomestic = 4.08; MGDomestic = 2.20; tL-G = 16.62;
Celebrity X COS 1.23 6.90**
p < 0.01) and the global celebrity for the international destination (0.42)
(MLInternational = 1.85; MGInternational = 3.99; tL-G = 18.92; p < 0.01). For Destination X COS 0.43 2.32*
Poland, the global celebrity was more preferred for the international (0.29)
destination (MLInternational = 2.39; MGInternational = 3.99; tL-G = 16.16; p < Celebrity X − 0.54 − 4.67**
Destination X COS (0.18)
0.01) while the local celebrity was found to be marginally more effective
Attitude Towards Celebrity − 5.97 − 9.65** 0.60
for a domestic destination (MLDomestic = 2.47; MGDomestic = 1.92; tL-G = Destination (AD) (0.62)
5.17; p < 0.01). Destination − 3.72 − 5.86**
Thereby H4 (a through c) was supported for Brazil and to some (0.64)
COS − 1.08 − 3.84**
extent for Poland but not for India. The findings indicated the presence
(0.28)
of a moderation effect of cosmopolitism. Hence, the presence (if any) the Celebrity X 3.59 8.96**
effect of cosmopolitism using PROCESS model 3 (Hayes, 2013) was Destination (0.40)
explored. Celebrity X COS 1.16 6.54**
(0.18)
Destination X COS 0.33 1.80˟
7.3.5. Moderation effects
(0.18)
Since the country-wise were already analyzed, country was not Celebrity X − 0.48 − 4.20**
modeled as an independent variable in the next set of analyses. As in Destination X COS (0.12)
study 3, independent linear regression models for all four DVs using Visit Intention (VI) Celebrity − 5.91 − 8.97** 0.56
(0.66)
PROCESS Model 3 (Hayes, 2013) was run. In this case, the celebrity type
Destination − 3.97 − 5.87**
(local vs. global) and the destination type (domestic vs. international) (0.68)
were modeled as independent variables, and COS as the moderator. All COS − 1.03 − 3.45**
two-way interactions and the three-way (celebrity X destination X COS) (0.30)
interaction were also included (Table 3). Results were similar for all the Celebrity X 3.71 8.72**
Destination (0.43)
DVs except affective attitude towards the advertisement (AA). Thus, it is
Celebrity X COS 1.16 6.11**
reported. The R square for affective attitude was 0.59 (F7,406 = 83.91; p (0.19)
< 0.01). The main effect of the celebrity (β = − 6.10; p < 0.01) and the Destination X COS 0.39 2.01˟
destination (β = − 3.97; p < 0.01) were significant on AA, as was that of (0.20)
Celebrity X − 0.53 − 4.29**
COS (β = − 1.19; p < 0.01). All two-way interactions, i.e. Celebrity X
Destination X COS (0.12)
Destination (β = 3.71; p < 0.01); Celebrity X COS (β = 1.23; p < 0.01)
and Destination X COS (β = 0.43; p < 0.05) were significant. However, Note: Coefficients in bold are non-significant; COS = Cosmopolitanism; ** im­
the Destination × COS interaction was only marginally significant. In all plies p < 0.01; * implies p < 0.05; ˟ implies non-significant.
other cases, the same interaction was non-significant (Table 3). A sig­
nificant negative three-way interaction effect of Celebrity X Destination replicated for cognitive attitudes towards the ad and the visit intentions.
X COS (β = − 0.54; p < 0.01) was observed, that supported the Therefore, H5 was supported.
cross-country differences.
Next, the results for attitude towards the destination (AD) is reported 7.4. Discussion
(rest given in Table 3). The overall regression yielded a R square value of
0.6 (F7,406 = 86.35; p < 0.01). The main effect of the celebrity (β = The findings from study 4 reiterated that a single strategy of celebrity
− 5.97; p < 0.01), the destination (β = − 3.72; p < 0.01) and COS (β = endorsements for tourist destinations might not work universally. While
− 1.08; p < 0.01) were significant on AD. The two-way interactions consumers in some nations may prefer a celebrity endorser-destination
Celebrity X Destination (β = 3.59; p < 0.01) and Celebrity X COS (β = match in terms of country of origin (such as Brazil), others may be
1.16; p < 0.01) were significant while that of Destination X COS (β = only affected by the “foreignness” of the celebrity endorser and let it
0.33; p > 0.10) was not found significant. The three-way interaction outweigh C-D congruence (such as India). For some countries, these
Celebrity X Destination X COS (β = − 0.48; p < 0.01) was negative and effects may hold good in certain cases but not for all (such as Poland,
significant, supporting cross-country differences. These results were where the difference between the effectiveness of the local and the

14
S. Roy et al.
global celebrity for the domestic destination was marginal). Thus, H4
was partially supported. The rationale behind such behavior may be
deep-rooted in the consumer’s psychology and be motivated by factors
such as consumer cosmopolitanism (H5).
8. Summary of results
In this section, the results from all the four studies and the related
hypotheses are summarized. The objective of study 1 was to establish
whether a celebrity endorser would be more effective in destination
marketing compared to a generic tourism advertisement irrespective of
country culture (H1a-c). Support for all the hypotheses were observed as
the celebrity endorsed advertisement was found to generate more
favorable attitudes towards the advertisement (both cognitive and af­
fective); attitudes towards the destination and visit intentions compared
to a generic advertisement.
Following this, study 2 was conducted to further explore the choice
of the endorser. In study 2, the objective was to explore whether a local
celebrity would be more effective than a global celebrity endorser for a
domestic destination for the domestic travelers (H2a-c). The support for
the hypothesis was not universal across all countries. A full support for
H2 was found in Brazil where the local celebrity generated more
favorable attitudes compared to the global (foreign) celebrity. However,
in case of India, the results were just the opposite, i.e., the global ce­
lebrity was more effective than the local celebrity. In case of Poland, the
both the celebrities were generating traveler attitudes at similar levels.
Study 3 was conducted with the aim of understanding the internal
mechanism (or country specific nuances) of the traveler that was leading
to the findings as in study 2. Thus, the objective of study 3 was to explore
the moderating effect of the consumer’s local/global identity on the
effectiveness of the endorser type (local/global). The findings suggested
a significant moderating effect of the consumers’ local/global identity
on the effectiveness of the endorser. Thus, H3a-c were supported. While
individuals with more global identity would be more influenced by a
global celebrity, the individuals with more local identity would prefer a
local celebrity.
Study 4 started with the question on whether the results from study 3
should hold good for an international destination. Thus, the objective in
study 4 was to explore whether a celebrity congruent with the destina­
tion (i.e. local celebrity for local destination and global celebrity for
international destination) would be more effective and whether these
effects would be moderated by consumer cosmopolitanism. Even in this
case, the findings were not universal. In India, the global celebrity was
preferred irrespective of the destination type. In Brazil, the local ce­
lebrity was preferred for the domestic destination while the global ce­
lebrity was more effective for the international destination. In case of
Poland, travelers were more or less indifferent between a local and
global celebrity for a domestic destination, but were more influenced by
the global celebrity for the international destination. Thus, H4a-c was
only supported in Brazil. The moderating effect pf consumer cosmo­
politanism was supported as it was found that individuals with higher
degree of cosmopolitanism would prefer a global celebrity while the
ones with lower degree of cosmopolitanism would prefer a local celeb­
rity. In the next section, the theoretical implications of the findings are
discussed.
9. Implications
9.1. Theoretical implications
The present study contributes to the major thoughts in celebrity
endorsements and destination marketing and augments the existing
literature (Aronson et al., 1999; Chan et al., 2018; van der Veen and
Song, 2014). The findings from Study 1 (H1) support the notion of a
celebrity bringing credibility to an advertisement. Thereby, the celebrity
endorsed advertisement was found to be more effective in generating
15
Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
favorable consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions compared to a
generic advertisement. Hence, the present study supports the body of
knowledge that advocates the use of celebrity endorsers (Ohanian, 1990;
Pornpitakpan, 2003; Priester and Petty, 2003; Roy et al. 2012, 2019;
Roy et al., 2015; Silvera and Austad, 2004) and augments the literature
in celebrity endorsements in a novel context (as suggested by Schim­
melpfennig and Hunt, 2020).
Having discussed that, the study finds contradictory evidence to the
well-used congruence theory (Kamins, 1990; Mittelstaedt et al., 2000;
Roy and Bagdare, 2015; Till et al., 2008). Findings from study 2 indicate
that celebrity endorser-destination congruence may not hold good
across countries, contrary to Glover (2009). While in some cases, a ce­
lebrity congruent with the destination origin may be more effective,
such as the case of Brazil, it may not work for a newly globalized country
such as India. This also brings us to the country-specific consumer fac­
tors that may moderate the effect of celebrity destination congruence on
consumer attitudes (Study 3). The average level of ‘globalness’ of a
newly globalized country (in the present case, India) may be much
higher than a country that was globalized earlier (such as Poland). This
high level of global orientation may influence a consumer to accept a
global celebrity compared to a local celebrity, even when the destination
is within the country. On the other hand, a country with a higher level of
local orientation may be more receptive to a local celebrity as compared
to a global one. Thereby, the findings support the notion that
country-specific consumer level factors may override the expected out­
comes of congruence (Tu et al., 2012; Roy et al., 2019).
This line of thought is extended in Study 4, where a third dimension
of the destination is added. Here, a bipartite congruence is introduced,
where on the one hand, the celebrity-destination congruence is dis­
cussed and on the other, the celebrity-consumer congruence is dis­
cussed. Given the notion of celebrity destination (C-D) congruence, one
could assume that a local celebrity would be more preferred for a do­
mestic destination, whereas a global celebrity would be more preferred
for an international destination. On the contrary, congruence between
the celebrity endorser and the target audience (C-C) would imply that a
local celebrity would be more preferred irrespective of the destination.
Findings from Study 4 partially support one of these notions. While for
Brazil, support for C-D congruence is observed, for India, neither C-D nor
C-C congruence was supported. This is where inference from consumer
cosmopolitanism is drawn (e.g., Cleveland et al., 2009; Cleveland et al.,
2014; Nijssen and Douglas, 2008). The moderating effect of consumer
cosmopolitanism in Study 4 suggests that countries with a high level of
cosmopolitanism may prefer a global celebrity overriding the congru­
ence between celebrity destination or celebrity consumer. While coun­
tries that are moderately high on cosmopolitanism may prefer a global
celebrity for an international destination, the same audience may prefer
a local celebrity for a domestic destination, thereby supporting C-D
congruence.
To summarize, the study finds partial support for the congruence
hypothesis and emphasizes on the consumer level characteristics such as
local-global identity or consumer cosmopolitanism in influencing the
effectiveness of the celebrity-endorsed destination advertising.
8.2. Managerial Implications
There are multiple implications for the destination marketers that
emanate from the present study. First, and the obvious one, the study
suggests justifiability of use of a celebrity endorser for the marketing of a
tourist destination. Use of a credible celebrity in destination marketing
would generate favorable attitudes towards the advertisement and the
destination, leading to visit intentions. In addition, the findings were
consistent across countries with very different cultures. This implies that
a celebrity as an endorser may be effective irrespective of the cultural
context.
Second, having said that an endorser would be more effective than a
generic marketing campaign, the subsequent studies pose challenges in
S. Roy et al.
front of the marketer on the choice of the celebrity. First, the case of the
destination marketer who wants to market to the domestic audience is
discussed. The study findings demonstrate that consumer level factors
could vary across and within countries, such as local-global identity, and
this may influence the effectiveness of the endorser. More specifically, in
a country where the majority of the consumers are globally oriented, a
destination marketing campaign may be successful if the endorser is a
global celebrity (not from the same country). On the other hand, a local
celebrity may be more effective in a country where consumers are
locally oriented. Thereby, an a-priori understanding of the consumers
perceived “localness”/“globalness” would help the marketer make a
better choice of the endorser.
Third, the study findings also have significant implications for the
destination marketer, who wants to market a destination to a different
audience than the domestic market. Even in such a case, it is found that
country-specific consumer factors would influence the choice of the
celebrity endorser. While more cosmopolitan consumers would be more
open to a foreign celebrity endorsing an international destination, less
cosmopolitan consumers may prefer a local celebrity. Thus, while a
match between the destination and the celebrity (in terms of the country
of origin) may be effective for some countries, it may be more sensible to
use a local celebrity matching the target audience in some other coun­
tries. Even in this case, the countries planning a destination marketing
campaign for multiple target countries may not find a single solution.
Based on the degree of cosmopolitism, they may have to use a different
celebrity for specific target countries rather than a common celebrity for
all targets. To summarize, findings from the study note that even though
celebrity endorsements are relatively more beneficial, they need to be
tailored depending on the characteristic of the target audience.
9. Limitations and further research
The present study brings together the research streams of celebrity
endorsements and destination marketing and contributes to the knowl­
edge on celebrity endorsements in destination marketing with the help
of four empirical studies, each done consecutively in three countries.
The major findings challenge some existing notions in celebrity
endorsement and add to the body of knowledge in destination market­
ing. The study has a few limitations that could be considered as scope for
future research. First, the study only measured attitudes and behavioral
intentions. Whether the visit intentions lead to actual visit was beyond
the scope of the present study. Future studies could explore this in a
longitudinal study where the actual behavior could be mapped. Second,
even though the study had theoretical generalizability, future studies
could explore multiple destinations and multiple celebrity professions.
For example, one could argue that soccer and beaches go well together.
Thus, would the same effects hold good if a soccer star is paired with a
mountain destination, or say a music star is paired with a beach. Third,
the opinion of a single individual was only considered in the study. The
choice of travel as a tourist may not always be a single individual’s
decision and maybe a joint decision. Consequently, future research
should explore whether a peer group influence moderates the effect of a
celebrity endorser on the consumer choices. Despite the limitations, the
present study has made a novel and timely contribution to destination
marketing both from the academic and practitioner points of view.
Credit roles
Subhadip Roy, Conceptualization, Subhadip Roy, Wioleta Dryl,
Luciana Gil: Data curation, Subhadip Roy: Formal analysis, Funding
acquisition, (Not applicable) Subhadip Roy, Wioleta Dryl, Luciana Gil,
Investigation, Subhadip Roy, Methodology, Subhadip Roy, Wioleta Dryl,
Luciana Gil: Project administration Resources, (Not applicable) Sub­
hadip Roy: Software Supervision (Not applicable) Subhadip Roy: Vali­
dation, Subhadip Roy: Visualization, Subhadip Roy, Wioleta Dryl,
Luciana Gil: Roles/Writing - original draft, Subhadip Roy, Wioleta Dryl,
16
Tourism Management 83 (2021) 104213
Luciana Gil: Writing - review & editing.
Impact statement
Research in the applications of celebrity endorsements in destination
marketing is much less compared to the volume of research in main­
stream celebrity endorsements. This is where we make a contribution by
providing a comprehensive picture of the various aspects of celebrity
endorsed advertisements and supplementary guidelines for practice. The
fact that the same studies are repeated in three countries with different
socio-cultural set-up, further enhances the generalizability of the find­
ings. Hence, the present study makes a theoretical contribution to a
hitherto under-researched area in tourism management. The findings
emphasize on the need for a clear understanding of the socio-cultural
factors determining tourism in a country by the practitioner before
crafting a destination marketing communication campaign. The findings
from the present study will guide practitioners/policy makers in desti­
nation advertising in the selection and application of an endorsement
strategy and crafting the advertisement plan to make it more effective.
Declaration of competing interest
None.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their
constructive feedback on the earlier draft of the manuscript.
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