Engaging the digital tourist: experimental evidence on the power of gamified travel content

This study investigates how gamified travel information influences young adults’ destination image perception, information search behaviour, and visit intentions. It addresses gaps in empirical research on the psychological mechanisms underlying gamification’s comparative effectiveness versus traditional text-based and question-and-answer formats in tourism marketing. A between-subjects experimental design compared three information formats (text-based, question-and-answer, gamified) across two destinations (London and Vienna). Data from 300 participants (Millennials and Gen Z) were analyzed to assess flow experience as a mediating mechanism. Gamified content produced significantly greater flow experience, which fully mediated effects on destination image change, information search intention, and visit intention when compared to text-based formats and partially mediated these effects versus question-and-answer formats. Flow emerged as the critical psychological mechanism connecting format interactivity with tourism outcomes. This research advances flow theory by demonstrating it operates as a gradient mediator depending on baseline interactivity levels, extending the framework beyond gaming to brief persuasive tourism communication contexts. The single-exposure design and focus on two European cities suggest future research should examine longitudinal effects and diverse destination types. DMOs can enhance engagement by incorporating quiz-based gamification with optimal design specifications: 3–7-minute game length, mobile-first accessibility, and adaptive difficulty calibration matched to target audience knowledge levels. Gamified travel information offers scalable, low-cost tools to influence digital-native travelers’ destination choices in the post-pandemic digital tourism landscape, democratising destination marketing for resource-constrained organisations. This research provides the first experimental comparison of three tourism information formats, empirically validating flow’s mediating role and revealing that brief-exposure flow simultaneously influences cognitive, motivational, and behavioural outcomes across multiple decision-making stages.