The impact of social media influencers' credibility on tourist behavior: The mediating role of trust

This study examines how social media influencers' (SMIs) credibility affects tourist behavior in Saudi Arabia, with trust serving as a mediating mechanism. Understanding influencer marketing dynamics is crucial for destination branding, especially as Saudi Arabia advances its Vision 2030 tourism diversification goals. Using Source Credibility Theory, this research investigates how influencer expertise and attractiveness influence tourist behavior through trust formation. A quantitative cross-sectional design employed structural equation modeling to analyze data from 550 domestic tourists across six major Saudi regions who actively follow SMIs. The measurement model demonstrated excellent psychometric properties, with composite reliability scores ranging from 0.94 to 0.96. Results revealed that both expertise (β = 0.12, p < 0.01) and attractiveness (β = 0.13, p < 0.01) significantly predicted trust, which in turn strongly influenced tourist behavior (β = 0.20, p < 0.001). Trust partially mediated the relationships between credibility dimensions and tourist behavior, accounting for 13% and 14% of total effects, respectively. The model explained 58% of the variance in trust and 56% in tourist behavior, demonstrating strong predictive relevance. These findings provide actionable insights for tourism stakeholders seeking to optimize influencer collaborations within Saudi Arabia's rapidly developing tourism sector.