<![CDATA[This study provides empirical evidence on how viral social media content influences behavioral, emotional, and online engagement with tourist destinations in The Gambia, an area that has received limited empirical attention in tourism research. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 256 respondents familiar with tourism-related viral social media content in The Gambia. Tourist destination engagement was influenced most by emotional engagement, followed by behavioral engagement, and finally by online engagement. In other words, tourists react to emotional experiences that they have had due to viral content on social media rather than behavioral and online engagement. Although previous research has demonstrated the importance of social media as a marketing tool for tourism destinations, little information exists addressing the influence of viral social media content on behavioral, emotional, and online engagement of visitors at their destinations in The Gambia. The purpose of this article is to address this gap by looking into the impact of the aforementioned engagement characteristics on tourist destination engagement. The findings suggest that tourism destination managers in The Gambia should prioritize emotionally engaging digital storytelling and authentic user-generated content to strengthen tourist destination engagement.]]>
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