Effect of vicarious destination exposure on travel intention: North Korean-themed live restaurant performances in China

Vicarious destination exposure, which affects satisfaction and image recalibration that variably influence visit interest, desire and intention, has not been previously investigated in live performance contexts. Five statements related successively to satisfaction, image recalibration, interest, desire and intention were therefore used to segment 923 Chinese viewers of North Korean-themed musical performances in three Northeast Chinese restaurants. Four clusters are obtained using hierarchical cluster analysis. Cluster 1 (48%) is highly positive on all five items, while Cluster 2 (26%) is similar but displays negative North Korea images. Cluster 3 (10%) shows neutral responses to all items except for high satisfaction, while Cluster 4 (16%) exhibits member ambivalence with satisfaction but strong negativity on all other items. High apparent viewer-to-visitor conversion effects suggest the utility of live performances in destination promotion strategies, recognizing perceived barriers of time, money and security concerns. Notable is the importance of existential authenticity as viewers successfully negotiate conflicting social representations of North Korea.