AI-Generated Visual Authenticity and Perceived Justice Drive Tourist Patronage Intentions

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed destination marketing by enabling the creation of visually compelling promotional content. While AI-generated visuals offer new opportunities for tourism promotion, concerns about their perceived authenticity and fairness may influence tourists’ behavioral intentions. This study examines how the perceived authenticity of AI-generated visuals and perceived justice affect tourist patronage intention toward Bali as a tourism destination. A quantitative explanatory research design was employed, using a cross-sectional survey of 130 valid respondents who had viewed AI-generated tourism visuals of Bali. Data were collected via an online questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that perceived authenticity of AI-generated visuals has a positive and significant effect on tourist patronage intention (β = 0.299, p = 0.002). Perceived justice also has a positive and significant effect on tourist patronage intention and demonstrates a stronger effect (β = 0.611, p < 0.001). The findings indicate that tourists’ patronage intentions are shaped by both the perceived authenticity of AI-generated destination visuals and perceptions of fairness in destination management. The study contributes to the emerging literature on AI-enabled tourism marketing by integrating visual authenticity and perceived justice into a single framework and provides practical implications for destination marketing organizations to use AI-generated visual content while maintaining credible communication and responsible destination management.