Electronic word of mouth is believed to be a factor that can influence a person's interest and decision to visit. Interest in visiting is also a determining factor for potential tourists to visit a destination. This study aims to determine the effect of electronic word of mouth and visiting interest on visiting decisions and to prove the effect of visiting interest as a mediating variable. One aspect of marketing that is used for tourists to decide on a visit decision is by using electronic word of mouth. So TikTok, which is one of the social media platform sites in Indonesia that content creators and influencers often share videos about tourism content, such as tips and tricks, new place recommendations, and honest reviews.
The population in this study is Tourists who visited the Special Region of Yogyakarta during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-2022. Sampling using purposive sampling technique with the number of respondents as many as 100. Methods of data collection using the questionnaire method. Data analysis used SEM-PLS with research variables including electronic word of mouth, interest in visiting, and visiting decisions.
The results showed that (1) electronic word of mouth had a positive and significant effect on visiting interest, (2) electronic word of mouth had a positive and significant effect on visiting decisions, (3) visiting interests had a positive and significant impact on visiting decisions. (4) As for testing the effect of mediation, it was found that interest in visiting mediates the relationship between electronic word of mouth and interest in visiting on visiting decisions. For future research, It is hoped that the results of this study can be used as a reference for further researchers to develop this research by adding and considering other variables in online consumer reviews such variables such as Viral Marketing, that might be investigated to see the performance of the tourist sight in similar or different places.