Visual excitement: analyzing the effects of three Norwegian tourism films on emotions and behavioral intentions

Abstract

Commercial films are important for deciding where to travel. Nonetheless, surprisingly little is known scientifically about which emotions tourist commercials trigger while watching them and how similarly or differently online vs. post hoc self-reported emotions affect travel intentions. In an experimental study, 142 tourists were randomly allocated into one of three groups. The first group was exposed to a tourist commercial film, the second group watched a different tourist commercial film and the third group saw a short amateur ski film. A subsample was also shown a popular comedy film. Online emotions were captured using FaceReader software that analyzed facial expressions. Self-reported emotions were measured with a questionnaire distributed immediately after each film. Results showed that tourist films elicited hardly any facial expressions at all, and that there was no correlation between those elicited and the same emotions measured with the post-film questionnaire. In contrast, the comedy film elicited higher levels of facial expressions and many of those emotions correlated significantly with those reported in the questionnaire afterwards. Finally, online more than self-reported emotions predicted future intentions to visit.