Did eyes lie? Examining a hygiene message’s dominance in post-pandemic tourism advertising with an eye-tracking monitoring approach

Abstract

Given that hygiene remains a prominent concern for tourists, this study aims to examine the impact of hygiene-related messages on individual tourists’ attitudes toward tourism advertising. To achieve this objective, Study 1 and Study 2 employed video and print advertisements alongside an eye tracking system to examine the influence of timing and appearance location of hygiene messages. Subsequently, a survey targeting Australian tourists (Study 3) was conducted to explore how process-focused versus outcome-focused thoughts impact attitude toward advertising, with age and risk aversion tested as moderators. Findings from the eye tracking studies show that hygiene messages appearing at the end as compared to the beginning of the video advertising as well as those positioned in the top rather than lower regions of print advertisements, are more effective in capturing attention. Survey results further revealed that process-focused thoughts are more influential in developing attitude than outcome-focused thoughts. A list of implications is discussed at the end.

Keywords

Hygiene message attitude eye-tracking monitoring survey Australia

Introduction

Hygiene messages have become integral to the tourism and hospitality industry (Bhati et al., 2021), in particular, as health and hygiene are primary concerns for tourists after the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourists are still conscious of health-related risk and place significant importance on preserving their personal hygiene and physical well-being. These factors remain an ongoing issue in the post- pandemic era (Soliman et al., 2024), affecting tourists’ choices of tourism products or services. As a result, visual materials (i.e., photo images and video) have received increasing interest (Huang et al., 2022; Li et al., 2016) for their use as mitigation measures to reduce tourists’ fears (Bhati et al., 2021). The pandemic, in fact, has increased the digitalisation process (Elkhwesky et al., 2024), with a crucial role played by tourism advertising featuring hygiene messages. A relevant theory for understanding viewers’ behaviour is the theory of visual attention capacity (Luck and Vogel, 1997), which claims that individuals like to narrow down viewing time when receiving overwhelming information due to their limited visual attention span (Li et al., 2016). This is supported by past studies indicating that individuals, due to their selective attention, do not notice or do not fully understand video advertisements (Li and Lo, 2015). However, there is the limited understanding of how viewers apply their selective attention to tourism advertisements that highlight hygiene messages

Previous studies examine the effects of visual and textual features on an individuals’ perceptions of brand advertisements, their visual attention, or their purchase decisions (Li et al., 2016). However, the literature on hygiene messages still lacks a clear understanding of how the specific advertising features such as timing of the hygiene message’s appearance (at the beginning or end of a video advertisement) or its location (at the top or bottom of an image-based advertisement) influence tourists’ perceptions. Given the growing importance of hygiene messages in today’s travelling world, the design of videos or print advertisement needs thorough investigation of the timing and placement of the hygiene message, as well as the presence or absence of tourists in the advertisement. However, the literature remains insufficient in addressing the specific effects of these variables on tourists’ attitudes toward hygiene-related advertising.

Tourists’ mental stimulation plays a key role in shaping their attitudes, as they actively seek authenticity and credibility in tourism advertising (Nunes et al., 2021). Such perceptions foster a sense of trustworthiness and expertise, which in turn leads to the development of positive attitudes toward the advertisement (Schouten et al., 2020). Unfortunately, when addressing this type of inquiry, self-reported results often fail to fully align with eye-tracking results, with distortion or non-representativeness (Li et al., 2018) due to cognitive biases (Nan, 2013). Thus, a comprehensive investigation should be conducted using both an eye-tracking monitoring study with tourism advertising images and videos as stimuli, as well as self-reported survey data for a more holistic understanding. The current research, therefore, employs three different studies to address the following research questions (RQs):

RQ1: Does the timing of the hygiene message’s appearance (at the end/beginning of an advertisement, combined with the presence or absence of tourists affect tourists’ attitudes toward the advertisement? (Study 1)

RQ2: Does the location of hygiene message (at the top or bottom of an advertisement) along with the presence or absence of tourists’ image influence tourists’ attitudes toward the advertisement? (Study 2)

RQ3: What factors impact the development of tourists’ positive attitudes toward hygiene-related tourism advertisements? (Study 3)

The paper is structured as follows: descriptions of Study 1: an eye-tracking study focused on video advertising stimuli; Study 2: an eye-tracking study using image-based print advertising stimuli; and, finally, Study 3: a survey-based study. These sections are followed by the conclusion, which summarises the overall discussion and presents the research contribution to the literature and its implications for managerial practice.

Literature review

This research draws on the theory of visual attention capacity (Luck and Vogel, 1997) as the theoretical platform for hypothesis development, recognising that viewers have a limited attention span to process tourism advertisements highlighting hygiene messages. The study is further informed by the principle of ‘cognitive economy’ (Wyer and Srull, 1986), which suggests that individuals tend to minimize information processing activities and make a decision with least possible effort. By combining these two theoretical perspectives, it is inevitable that viewers may exhibit a usual pattern when exposed to tourism advertisements that feature hygiene messages placed in different locations with the presence or absence of the tourist image.

Study 1: Video advertising stimuli-focused eye-tracking study

Procedure and participants

Study 1 applied a 2 × 2 design (presence or absence of tourists [2] x appearance of hygiene message at the beginning or end of the video advertising [2]). The eye-tracking experiment was conducted in one of the researchers’ offices. Tourist participants (n = 33) viewed the video stimuli, while their eye movements were recorded using a SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) Remote Eye Tracking (RED) device with a sampling rate of 30 hertz (Hz), which captured eye positions every 33 milliseconds [ms]). After watching a series of videos with a mean duration of 18.4 ± 6.9 seconds (s), participants (n = 33) completed a short questionnaire. To minimise bias, each participant watched a subset of the stimuli, with the stimulus presentation order counterbalanced across participants to minimise order effects. Most participants were aged between 18 and 45 years, with only a few (approximately 6.25%) above 45 years. In terms of gender, approximately 31.25% of participants were male. Most participants were travelling with family (approximately 78.13%) compared to those travelling alone or with others. Studies 1 and 2 used the stimuli presented in Online Appendix A. All visual materials used for the experiment stimuli were sourced from a publicly published copyright-free website, Pexels at <pexels.com>.

Results

In each video frame, rectangular regions of interest (RoIs) around the hygiene message were marked. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test comparing mean eye fixation durations in the four conditions revealed no effect of either the presence/absence of a tourist (F [1,11] = 1.48, not significant [ns]) or the appearance of the hygiene message at the beginning/end of the advertisement (F [1,11] = 0, ns). On the other hand, the ANOVA test comparing fixation duration statistics for the hygiene message revealed a main effect of the presence/absence of tourists in the scene (F [1,11] = 48.75, p < .0001), but for the appearance of the hygiene message, no effect was noted (F [1,11] = 0.02, ns). However, irrespective of the presence/absence of tourists, the study noted marginally greater attention on the hygiene message when it appeared at the end of the message, revealing a stronger influence of the recency effect rather than the primacy effect. Table 1 shows that advertisements without visitors ranked higher compared to those featuring visitors.

Table 1.

Eye fixation duration details.

Group no.	Description	N	Mean	Std. Deviation
On message
1.0	Visitor present, message appears in the beginning	10	0.99	0.63
2.0	Visitor present, message appears at the end	8	1.02	0.71
3.0	No visitor, message appears in the beginning	10	4.70	2.12
4.0	No visitor, message appears at the end	7	4.81	2.60
On persons or other scene objects
1.0	Visitor present, message appears in the beginning	10	5.85	3.09
2.0	Visitor present, message appears at the end	8	5.59	4.48
3.0	No visitor, message appears in the beginning	10	8.64	4.01
4.0	No visitor, message appears at the end	7	8.26	4.61

Results from self-reported data

Using the same factorial design, participants completed self-reported questions on their attitude toward advertising after the eye-tracking experiment. Attitude toward advertising was measured by asking ‘Overall, I consider this advertising as a good thing’ (1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree).

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) conducted on participants’ self-reported data revealed a significant difference in attitude toward the advertising in relation to tourists’ presence and timing of the hygiene message’s appearance (F = 4.107, p = .015). Group 3 (no tourists, video message at the beginning) and Group 4 (no tourists, video message at the end) were significantly different in their opinions (p-value = .020 at 0.05 level of significance). Group 4 (no tourists, video message at the end) had the highest mean value (mean value = 4.29), followed by Group 2 (tourists present, video message at the end) with a mean value of 4.00. These results support RQ1 when utilising participants’ self-reported data. Table 2 summarizes the findings.

Table 2.

Study 1 details with self-reported question.

Group no.	Description	N	Mean	Std. Deviation
1.0	Visitor present, appear in the beginning	10	3.40	0.966
2.0	Visitor present, appear at the end	8	4.00	0.756
3.0	No visitor, appear in the beginning	10	3.10	0.738
4.0	No visitor, appear at the end	7	4.29	0.488
Total		35	3.63	0.877

Study 2: Image-based print advertising stimuli-focused eye-tracking study

Procedure and participants

Following a similar procedure and with the same participants as in Study 1, eye fixation statistics were obtained for the four types of images arising from the 2 × 2 design (presence or absence of tourists [2] x hygiene message at top or bottom of the advertising [2]), as presented in Table 2. After watching the photo stimuli, participants were asked to rate their attitude toward the advertisement using the statement ‘I like this advertising’ on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree).

Results

Greater visual attention (higher mean fixation duration) was captured by the hygiene message when it appeared at the top rather than at the bottom of the advertisement, irrespective of the presence or absence of tourists. This result is consistent with recent observations highlighting a vertical attention bias for details appearing at the top of a scene (Langley and McBeath, 2023). An ANOVA test comparing mean fixation duration on the hygiene message revealed the main effects of tourists in the scene (F [1,15] = 10.56, p < .01) and of the message location (F [1,15] = 23.69, p < .0005), but no significant interaction effect was found. Also, the ANOVA test comparing the main effect of message location revealed a significant result (F [1,15] = 11.1 p < .01) and a significant tourist–message interaction effect (F [1,15] = 16.96, p < .005). The highest mean fixation time of 3.47 seconds was recorded when the message appeared in the top region of the scene; in contrast, when the hygiene message appeared at the bottom , the result was significantly lower fixation duration of 1.76 seconds . Table 3 confirms that messages that appeared on top received greater attention from the participants.

Table 3.

Eye fixation duration details.

Group no.	Description	N	Mean	Std. Deviation
On message
1.0	Visitor, message appeared top of the ad	10	0.94	0.78
2.0	Visitor, message appeared bottom of the ad	8	0.59	0.68
3.0	No visitor, message appeared top of the ad	10	1.29	0.75
4.0	No visitor, message appeared bottom of the ad	7	0.78	0.65
On persons or other scene objects
1.0	Visitor, message appeared top of the ad	10	3.47	0.74
2.0	Visitor, message appeared bottom of the ad	8	1.76	1.20
3.0	No visitor, message appeared top of the ad	10	2.42	1.05
4.0	No visitor, message appeared bottom of the ad	7	2.56	1.27

Results from self-reported data

The ANOVA test results in Table 4 showed a significant difference in participants’ attitudes toward the advertising in relation to tourists’ presence or absence and the position where the hygiene message appeared (F = 3.679, p = .022). The post hoc ANOVA test showed a significant difference in opinions between Group 1 (tourists present and hygiene message appears at the top) and Group 3 (no tourists, hygiene message appears at the top) (p-value = .013 at 0.05 level of significance). Table 4 shows that Group 1 had the highest mean value (4.63), confirming RQ2 by implying that ads with the hygiene message on top were effective.

Table 4.

Study 2 details with self-reported data.

Group no.	Group description	N	Mean	Std. Deviation
1.00	Visitor, message appeared top of the ad	8	4.63	0.518
2.00	Visitor, message appeared bottom of the ad	9	3.67	0.866
3.00	No visitor, message appeared top of the ad	9	3.11	0.782
4.00	No visitor, message appeared bottom of the ad	10	3.60	1.350
Total		36	3.72	1.059

Discussion

Correlations between (implicit) fixation duration patterns and (explicit) self-reported responses showed higher preference scores for advertisements with the hygiene message at the top and the presence of tourists. Overall, the presence or absence of tourists and the relative location of the hygiene message in the advertising substantially altered the extent of visual attention to the hygiene message, validating RQ2 through both the eye-tracking experiment and self-reported data.

Study 3: Survey-based study

Advertising credibility and authenticity

In the advertising literature, the word ‘credibility’ refers to consumers’ perception of the extent of truthfulness (Becker et al., 2019). As perceptions of hygiene measures can significantly decrease perceived risks (Volgger et al., 2021), hygiene messages can enhance the credibility of advertisements. Accordingly, previous studies have examined advertising messages and credibility as closely related constructs (Lee and Kim, 2020). When advertising message is perceived as highly credible and genuine, it not only enhances consumer persuasion (Becker et al., 2019) but also leads to various other positive advertising outcomes (Schouten et al., 2020).

Advertising credibility is a research domain that mainly focuses on mass communication while highlights information exchange, trustworthiness, expertise, and persuasion (Lee, 2020; Lee and Eastin, 2021). On the other hand, authenticity is largely understood as a combination of perceived realism and parasocial interaction (Lee, 2020; Lee and Eastin, 2021), which often depends on how individuals perceive the credibility of the advertising. Hence, it was hypothesised in this study that:

A hygiene message positively influences the perceived credibility of advertising.

The perceived credibility of advertising positively influences the perceived advertising authenticity.

Attitude toward advertising

Previous literature argues that individuals with a higher psychological need for security tend to seek more authenticity (Liang et al., 2018), as authenticity offers a sense of perceived control and decreases perceived uncertainty- both of which were particularly important during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (Liang et al., 2018; Park et al., 2022). Accordingly, authenticity in advertising (Atkin and Beltramini, 2007) has been shown to enhance individuals’ attitudes toward the advertising (Morhart et al., 2015) and positively affect both process- and outcome-focused thoughts. Process-focused thoughts are when individuals focus on the process of using a product or service, whereas outcome-focused thoughts are when individuals focus on the end-benefit of using a product or service (Brechman and Purvis, 2015). Given that authenticity is considered a ‘composite formative construct’ representing all relevant dimensions of interest (Nunes et al., 2021), this study proposed that it affects both process- and outcome-focused thoughts about the advertising featuring hygiene messages. Thus, we propose the following hypotheses:

Perceived advertising authenticity positively influences process-focused thoughts.

Perceived advertising authenticity positively influences outcome-focused thoughts.

Perceived advertising authenticity positively influences attitude toward an advertisement.

Process- and outcome-focused thoughts

While process- and outcome-focused thoughts are examined in different contexts (Brechman and Purvis, 2015; Wu et al., 2019), only limited research investigates the role of these two types of thought in individuals’ attitudes toward hygiene-focused tourism advertising. Considering that both process- and outcome-focused thoughts are known to shape viewers’ attitudes toward advertising (Wu et al., 2019), this study proposed that both types of thought impact individuals’ attitudes toward advertising containing hygiene messages. Therefore, we hypothesise that:

Process-focused thoughts positively influence attitude toward an advertisement.

Outcome-focused thoughts positively influence attitude toward an advertisement.

The moderation impacts of age and risk aversion

Age has been widely used as a moderator in past tourism studies (Kim and Kim, 2021; Sawaftah et al., 2020) owing to its inherent influence on individuals’ cognition and behaviour. Thus, this study proposed that age moderates the relationship between both process- and outcome-focused thoughts and attitude toward advertising. Supporting this, Kim and Song (2020) found that age significantly impacts individuals’ perceptions of authenticity in advertising.

The relationships between perceived advertising authenticity and (a) process-focused thoughts; (b) outcome-focused thoughts; and (c) attitude toward advertising are moderated by age.

Risk aversion, on the other hand, indicates the extent to which an individual is willing to avoid a situation perceived as highly risky (Kim and Pomirleanu, 2021). Individuals with high risk aversion focus more on potential loss compared to their low risk aversion counterparts, who focus more on potential gains (Pizam et al., 2004). Given its significant influence on attitudes, tourists’ decision making (Williams and Baláž, 2015) and cognitive processing, risk aversion has been used as a moderator in previous studies (Kim and Pomirleanu, 2021; Prince and Kim, 2021) Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

The relationships between perceived advertising authenticity and (a) process-focused thoughts; (b) outcome-focused thoughts; and (c) attitude toward advertising are moderated by risk aversion. See conceptual model in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Conceptual model for study 3.

Method

A total of 154 Australian tourist participated in the survey. Data were collected using an online survey site, where participants received points for their participation. Five-point Likert scales were used in the questionnaire. Most participants (approximately 62%) were aged 18–30 years, followed by 27% aged 31–45 years. In addition, 63% of participants were male. To measure the moderation impact of risk aversion, the item ‘I avoid situations that have uncertain outcomes’ (Prince and Kim, 2021) was used. Table 5 summarises the sources, item details, and Cronbach’s alpha values of the questionnaire items used in study 3.

Table 5.

Scale details.

Construct details	Source
Hygiene message, α = 0.8821. This ad shows hygiene related message about health-related concern2. This ad shows clear health related message to me3. This ad shows message on health-related safety precautions taken in the premise	D’Souza and Tay (2016)
Advertising credibility, α = 0.8321. This advertising message is believable to me2. This advertising message is reliable to me3. This message seems credible to me	Baig et al. (2019)
Advertising authenticity, α = 0.8681. The hygiene message in the ad is likely to be true2. The hygiene message in the ad is convincing3. The hygiene message in the ad is trustworthy	Kim and Song (2020)
Process focused thoughts, α = 0.8621. After remembering the ad with hygiene message, I think about the possibility of changing my current plan and like to include this travel destination in my plan2. After remembering the ad with hygiene message, I think about incorporating the travel destination into my travel plan3. After remembering the ad with hygiene message, I think to use this travel destination	Escalas and Luce (2004)
Outcome focused thoughts, α = 0.6391. After remembering the ad with hygiene message, I thought about the end benefits or results of using this travel destination2. After remembering the ad with hygiene message, I think about the end result of feeling healthy	Escalas and Luce (2003)
Attitude toward advertisement, α = 0.7641. I like this advertising2. My opinion of this advertising is favourable3. Overall, I consider this advertising as a good thing	Ramaprasad (2001)

Results and discussion on direct effects

Survey data were analysed using the partial least squares (PLS) method and SmartPLS 3 software, both of which are widely used in recent studies (Henseler et al., 2015; Jadhav et al., 2023; Ringle and Sarstedt, 2016). As shown in Table 6, all reliability and validity measures where satisfactory. Discriminant validity was also assured, with average variance extracted (AVE) values higher than related correlations (Fatima et al., 2017, 2019).

Table 6.

Reliability and validity measures.

	Cronbach’s alpha	Composite reliability	AVE	Att. ad	Auth	Cred	Hy. mes	Out. Foc. Tho	Pro. Focus Tho
Attitude toward ad	0.767	0.865	0.681	0.83*
Authenticity	0.869	0.92	0.792	0.49	0.89*
Credibility	0.834	0.897	0.744	0.68	0.57	0.86*
Hygiene message	0.882	0.927	0.81	0.52	0.5	0.46	0.90*
Outcome focused thoughts	0.641	0.84	0.726	0.35	0.42	0.25	0.37	0.85*
Processed focused thoughts	0.863	0.914	0.781	0.45	0.43	0.28	0.40	0.67	0.88*

*Square root of average variance extracted (AVE) on the diagonal.

In support of previous claims (Becker et al., 2019; Morhart et al., 2015), the PLS output (Table 7) confirmed the significant impact of the health message on perceived credibility (H1, t-value = 6.482) and the influence of credibility on perceived authenticity (H2, t-value = 10.622). Authenticity was found to be a significant antecedent to process-focused thoughts (H3, t-value = 5.298), outcome-focused thoughts (H4, t-value = 5.263), and attitude toward advertising (H5, t-value = 4.087); thus, H1–H5 were accepted. Analysing the impacts of the two types of thought revealed that process-focused thoughts had a more significant and stronger effect (H6, t-value = 2.876) on attitude toward advertising, whereas outcome-focused thoughts had no significant effect (H7, t-value = 0.052). As a result, H6 was accepted but not H7.

Table 7.

PLS output.

Hypotheses	T statistics	p values
H₁: Hygiene message -> credibility	6.482	0.000
H₂: Credibility -> authenticity	10.622	0.000
H₃: Authenticity -> processed focused thoughts	5.298	0.000
H₄: Authenticity -> outcome focused thoughts	5.263	0.000
H₅: Authenticity -> attitude toward ad	4.087	0.000
H₆: Processed focused thoughts -> attitude toward ad	2.876	0.004
H₇: Outcome focused thoughts -> attitude toward ad	0.052	0.958

Results and discussion on the moderating impacts of age and risk aversion

Older participants had stronger preferences for authenticity (t-value = 5.478) than younger participants, but those in the latter group were more influenced by outcome-focused thoughts (t-value = 8.713), thus supporting H8b and H8c. Consistent with previous studies (Pizam et al., 2004), individuals with lower risk aversion were found to be more influenced by advertising authenticity in both process-based thoughts (t-value = 7.512) and outcome-focused thoughts (t-value = 6.951) compared to individuals with high risk aversion, confirming the moderating role of risk aversion and supporting H9a and H9b. Table 8 indicates that age and risk aversion significantly moderate all the relationships in the model, except for two hypotheses (H8a and H9c)

Table 8.

Moderation output (H₇ and H₈).

Age as moderator
Hypotheses	t-value difference	p-value difference	Older group t-value	Younger group t-value	Supported/Not supported
H_8a: Ad authenticity to process focused thoughts	1.287	0.200	0.916	8.266	No
H_8b: Ad authenticity to outcome focused thoughts	2.077	0.040	0.899	8.713	Yes
H_8c: Ad authenticity to attitude toward ad	2.159	0.032	5.478	1.032	Yes
Risk aversion as moderator
Hypotheses	t-value difference	p-value difference	High risk aversion group t-value	Low risk aversion group t-value	Supported/Not supported
H_9a: Ad authenticity to process focused thoughts	2.092	0.038	2.218	7.512	Yes
H_9b: Ad authenticity to outcome focused thoughts	1.992	0.048	2.747	6.951	Yes
H_9c: Ad authenticity to attitude toward ad	0.891	0.374	4.853	1.257	No

Additional mediation analysis and discussion

As several underlying mediation relationships existed in the conceptual model, an additional mediation analysis was conducted using Preacher and Hayes’ (2004) bootstrapping method at a 95% confidence interval. As shown in Table 9, findings revealed that advertising credibility had the strongest mediating effect on the relationship between the hygiene message and authenticity (37.77%), followed by process-focused thoughts mediating the relationship between authenticity and attitude toward advertising (28.87%).

Table 9.

Mediation output.

Mediation path	Lower value, upper value	Significant	Percentage of mediation effect
Hygiene message - ad credibility – Ad authenticity	0.0862, 0.2599	Yes	37.77%
Ad credibility – Ad authenticity – Attitude toward ad	−0.0031, 0.1919	No	—
Ad authenticity - process thoughts - attitude toward ad	0.0353, 0.2018	Yes	28.87%
Ad authenticity - process thoughts - attitude toward ad	0.0006, 0.1407	Yes	23.91%

Conclusion

The study aimed to explore the impact of a hygiene message in advertising on attitude toward tourism advertising, utilising a multi-methods approach comprising eye-tracking monitoring (Shukla et al., 2018; Subramanian et al., 2014), a self-reported questionnaire, and a survey among the broader community. Findings of the eye-tracking study as well as self-reported data on video stimuli (Study 1) revealed that a hygiene message appearing at the end of the video had a lasting impact on viewers, thus supporting previous advertising literature with its focus on the role of persuasive arguments in viewers’ attitude development (Meyer et al., 2023). This addresses the study RQ1 by concluding that tourists’ attitudes become more positive toward the advertisements that include a hygiene message at the end, regardless of the presence or absence of visitors. Similarly, Study 2 findings indicated that print advertisements with a hygiene message appearing at the top of the advertisement with a tourist presence had a significant positive impact on tourists’ attitude toward the tourism advertising. This result is consistent with previous research highlighting the significance of displaying a hygiene message (Yu and Margolin, 2024). Thus, in response to the RQ2, it can be confirmed that print advertisements with a hygiene message at the top, along with an image of visitor (s), generate more positive attitudes among tourists. Additionally, Study 3, in line with previous knowledge in the literature on process- and outcome-focused thoughts (Brechman and Purvis, 2015), reported that advertising authenticity had an almost similar effect on process- and outcome-focused thoughts. However, process-focused thoughts had a greater impact on developing positive attitudes toward advertising compared to outcome-focused thoughts, with a hygiene message playing a significant role in making a tourism advertisement more credible to viewers. These findings support previous arguments that advertising with content relevant to viewers is more favourably perceived (Joa et al., 2018), with hygiene messages continuing to influence tourists’ minds. Finally, following previous arguments (Kim and Song, 2020; Portal et al., 2019), a strong relationship was found between advertising credibility and advertising authenticity Therefore, in response to the RQ3, the study findings confirm that message credibility and authenticity are the most crucial factors in developing positive tourist attitudes toward advertising.

This research makes several contributions to the literature. Firstly, as a multi-methods research attempt aimed at verification, this study contributes to the existing body of literature by highlighting how a hygiene message plays a role in developing positive attitudes toward tourism advertising in the post-pandemic era. Findings from this multi-methods approach provide a more rigorous addition to the literature (Fatima, 2023), with calls having been made previously arguing about the drawbacks of using only self-reported surveys (Bauhoff, 2024). Secondly, the study contributes to the application of the theory of visual attention capacity (Luck and Vogel, 1997) and to the field of selective attention literature (Li and Lo, 2015) by conducting eye-tracking monitoring experiments using video and image advertising. The findings of this study enhance the conceptualisation of visual attention (Li et al., 2016) in hygiene-related tourism advertising and shed light on the existing literature regarding message, strategy, and cue effectiveness (De Kerpel et al., 2024; Hatzithomas et al., 2023; Zhu et al., 2022). Finally, this study extends the hygiene-focused tourism advertising literature by examining the impact of process- and outcome-focused thoughts, authenticity, and the moderating effect of the age and risk-aversion behaviour of tourists (Amaro et al., 2019; Kim and Kim, 2021).

The study offers several managerial contributions. As identification with one’s organisation is crucial in decision making (Di Mascio and Fatima, 2018) in today’s competitive world (Khan, 2008), the finding highlights the importance of displaying hygiene messages in tourism advertising in the post-COVID era to develop positive attitudes. This supports the recommended protocols for hygiene measures of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) (Volgger et al., 2021). In the post-COVID context, research studies found that tourists remain highly conscious and particularly concerned about health and safety risk (Islam et al., 2024) compared to the pre-COVID time. Thus, the tourism advertising industry must align with current tourists’ concerns and should take necessary steps to communicate hygiene messages through appropriate and effective channels. Based on findings from the eye-tracking monitoring and self-reported questionnaire, the study suggests that advertising practitioners place hygiene messages at the end of video advertising and show these messages at the top of image-based advertising (often used in print or social media) to capture the highest level of viewers’ attention. These approaches will increase brand-customer interactions, thus fostering positive word of mouth (Wako et al., 2025) and helping organisations achieve their desired outcomes (Ibrahim, 2023). With the growing popularity of omni-channel marketing (Sharma et al., 2024), viewers tend to use multiple devices, such as laptops, mobile phones, or print materials (Sharma et al., 2024) seamlessly before making any purchasing decision. This multi-device engagement further highlights the importance of ensuring that the content of advertising remains relevant and is strategically placed across all communication channels to maximise its effect on viewers’ attitudes.

This study also offers important social implications by emphasising the use of hygiene messages in tourism advertising, which will not only benefit individuals concerned about COVID-19 but will also enhance the well-being of society in the post-COVID context by promoting health awareness. Recognising social interaction and customer involvement as crucial factors (Fatima, 2023; Fatima and Razzaque, 2010), the study findings encourage the promotion of hygiene messages through both frontline staff and frontline technologies, allowing customers to make informed decisions. As the study also considers age and risk aversion as moderators in shaping authenticity perceptions and positive attitudes, its findings contribute to building a more inclusive society with a special focus on the older customers’ needs and those with a higher level of psychological insecurity. Customers with higher psychological insecurity can often be identified through their frequent questions about cleanliness, general security, etc. In such cases, it is important that frontline staffs are well trained to respond to their inquiries with patience. Finally, organisations need to encourage co-creation with customers and conduct effective internal marketing (Asif et al., 2022; Bangun et al., 2023) for better implementation of customer-inclusive strategies. The organization’s core commitment to hygiene and its implications on profit generation should be clearly explained to the employees through internal marketing.

This study has some limitations, which offer opportunities for future research. Firstly, the stimuli used in the eye-tracking study did not have any sound or background music, which would have made the stimuli free of bias for participants. However, the inclusion of sound or background music may have influenced participants differently by increasing the advertisement’s persuasive capability. Thus, future research may investigate the impact of hygiene messages that incorporate sound or background music on participants’ attention and persuasion. A broader spectrum of moderators (e.g., personality traits, culture, etc.) could also be considered in future studies. Finally, as all three studies were conducted only within the Australian context, considering a broader and more culturally diverse geographic region would provide more generalised findings.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental Material - Did eyes lie? Examining a hygiene message’s dominance in post-pandemic tourism advertising with an eye-tracking monitoring approach

Supplemental Material for Did eyes lie? Examining a hygiene message’s dominance in post-pandemic tourism advertising with an eye-tracking monitoring approach by Johra Kayeser Fatima, Ram Subramanian, Somayeh Bahmannia in Tourism and Hospitality Research

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

All visual contents are copyright free and authors like to acknowledge .

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Johra Kayeser Fatima

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Author Biographies

Dr Johra Kayeser Fatima received her PhD from University of New South Wales (Sydney). Dr Johra published in various prestigious journals including Psychology and Marketing, Tourism Analysis, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Journal of Strategic Marketing and Environmental Education Research. She also received Australian government grant. As a recognition of her research, she has been awarded ‘Dean’s Award for Research Excellence’ three times. Dr Johra’s Google Scholar profile.

Associate Professor Ram Subramanian has significant experience of working on estimating eye-gaze orientation of users (or drivers in the context of road safety). Examples include the AVEID tool for estimating engagement of People with Dementia, and eye-contact detection with a digital device (such as a camera). He also is working with ‘SeeingMachines Canberra’ on a funded project on ‘Driver Emotion and Mood Detection’. While Ram is an IT expert by training, he has nevertheless substantial experience of working on psychology-related projects as can be gauged from his Google Scholar profile.

Dr Somayeh Bahmannia is a lecturer at the University of Canberra. Her work has appeared in journals, such as Journal of Business Ethics, The Leadership Quarterly, and Journal of Management. She has also presented her research papers at several recognized international conferences such as the Academy of Management (AOM) Meetings.

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