The Study on the Influence of Korean Food Image in User-Generated Content (UGC) on Travel Intention to Korea: Focused on the Chinese Platform, Xiaohongshu

With the advent of the Web 2.0 era, UGC platforms have become more and more popular because of their unique characteristics. In recent years, the emergence of the social media called Xiaohongshu(小红 书) has changed users’ channels for information acquisition and consumption, and it has become one of the largest social platforms among young generations in China. This study aims to examine the influence of Korean food image in Korean food-related content on food preference, destination image, and travel intention to Korea among Chinese Xiaohongshu users. Through the online questionnaire, 280 valid questionnaires were obtained and analyzed using linear regression. The results show that the Korean food image in the content had a positive impact on their preference of food and destination image, and most of the examined factors ultimately enhanced users’ intention to visit Korea, except a cognitive food image. The study result implies that UGC has a great impact on shaping users' food image, and thus, in tourism publicity, in addition to media and advertising, we should also pay attention to the effects brought by UGC.