HONG KONG, 19 November 2024 – As the year of 2024 draws to a close and festive celebrations like Christmas approach, marketers are refining their strategies to boost tourists’ spending. Recent research from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School may offer valuable insights to inform these efforts, revealing a surprising link between romance-themed storytelling and increased likelihood of making impulsive purchases.
Key findings:
• Tourists exposed to romance-themed storytelling are more prone to impulsive buying compared to those in non-romantic settings.
• This effect is driven by a reduced sense of personal control, stemming from the internalised belief that “romance is uncontrollable.”
• Colour plays a crucial role: blue backgrounds enhance the impulsive buying tendency in romantic settings, while red backgrounds mitigate it.
The study, led by Professor Lisa Wan Chun-ying of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, highlights how romance-themed storytelling evokes feelings of spontaneity, contributing to tourists’ reduced self-control, which in turn encourages impulsive purchasing. These insights present new opportunities for tourism marketers to enhance visitor experiences and boost consumer spending.
Titled “Harnessing romance: The effect of exposure to romance-themed attractions on tourists’ impulsive buying,” the study involved a series of experiments with 820 participants. In the romantic condition, participants were shown images of a medieval bridge with a lifelong love story, while those in the non-romantic condition were told a story about friendship related to the bridge. The results revealed that participants exposed to romance-themed attractions were more likely to make impulsive purchases compared to those under the non-romantic condition.
Another intriguing finding is the role of colour in shaping consumer responses. Blue backgrounds, commonly associated with calmness, enhanced the impulsive buying effect under romantic themes, while red—a colour linked to caution—mitigated this tendency.
From a practical standpoint, businesses and attractions can apply these insights to encourage purchases while managing the risks associated with impulsive buying. For example, the use of red visual cues may help reduce the likelihood of excessive or unwanted purchases by tourists.
The findings offer more than just a sales boost for tourism operators. By using romance-themed storytelling and understanding how colour influences consumer behaviour, attractions can create more engaging, memorable experiences that not only enhance visitor satisfaction but also encourage repeated visits.
