<![CDATA[Digitalization has shifted marketing communication from a one-way transmission model toward an interactional model that treats publics as active participants. In Umrah pilgrimage travel, an intangible, high-value service carrying substantial perceived risk, digital channels often serve as the sole basis for an initial assessment of the provider. This study examines the effect of digital marketing communication on intention to choose travel services, with trust and consumer engagement as serial mediators, within a Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework enriched by the concepts of source credibility and uncertainty reduction. A quantitative explanatory survey was conducted among 91 pilgrims and prospective pilgrims of an Umrah travel provider in Bandung, analyzed using a five-point Likert scale. The analysis comprised validity-reliability testing, classical assumption tests, and serial mediation analysis using PROCESS Model 6 (5,000 bootstrap resamples). Results indicate that digital marketing communication positively affects trust (β = 0.456; p < 0.001), trust affects consumer engagement (β = 0.521; p < 0.001), consumer engagement affects intention to choose (β = 0.370; p < 0.001), and digital marketing communication has a direct effect on intention to choose (β = 0.374; p < 0.001). The serial indirect effect through trust and consumer engagement is 0.0896 (95% Boot CI: 0.0324-0.1641), while the two single-mediator paths are not significant. The findings indicate that digital communication works sequentially: messages are judged credible, build trust, open communicative engagement, and thereby bring consumers closer to choosing.]]>
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