Purpose: This study aimed to examine the impact of existential authenticity, celebrity attachment, and telepresence on travel intention within the context of short-video marketing, with a particular emphasis on the TikTok platform. In recent years, the rapid expansion of short-video platforms and the growing integration of social media with the tourism industry have shifted tourists' decision-making patterns away from traditional text-based information search toward active consumption of multimedia content. Watching short travel videos, particularly those featuring celebrities, can evoke a sense of authenticity and genuineness in viewers, strengthen their emotional closeness and virtual presence at the destination, and ultimately influence their actual travel intention. Nevertheless, a review of prior literature indicates that the simultaneous examination of these four constructs within an integrated structural model, particularly in the context of travel agencies, has received limited scholarly attention. Accordingly, the present study seeks to address this theoretical gap.

Methodology: This research is applied in terms of purpose and quantitative-descriptive of the survey type in terms of nature. The statistical population consisted of all managers and marketers of travel and tourism agencies in Tehran. The sample size was determined using G*Power software at three hundred individuals, selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected using the standardized questionnaire developed by Zhao et al., comprising thirteen items across the four main constructs of the study. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed through face, content, and construct validity; content validity was examined using the content validity ratio and content validity index, while construct validity was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability of the instrument was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, with values for all constructs falling within an acceptable range. Data analysis was conducted at both descriptive and inferential levels. At the descriptive level, SPSS software was used to examine demographic characteristics and the status of the research variables, while at the inferential level, the research hypotheses were tested using a variance-based structural equation modeling approach with SmartPLS software.

Findings: The results of the measurement model analysis indicated that the factor loadings of all questionnaire items were at a satisfactory level, and the convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument were fully confirmed. At the structural model level, hypothesis testing results revealed that existential authenticity exerts a positive and statistically significant effect on celebrity attachment, telepresence, and travel intention. In addition, celebrity attachment was found to have a positive and significant effect on both telepresence and travel intention. Furthermore, telepresence demonstrated a positive and significant effect on travel intention. Examination of the coefficients of determination for the endogenous variables of the model showed that the independent variables of the study were able to explain a substantial proportion of the variance in celebrity attachment, telepresence, and travel intention. The fit indices of the structural model were also reported at a satisfactory level, indicating an appropriate fit between the proposed model and the collected data. Overall, all six hypotheses proposed in this study were supported with an acceptable level of statistical confidence.

Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrate that, within digital environments and short-video-based marketing, existential authenticity not only directly influences audiences' travel intention but also indirectly intensifies this effect by strengthening emotional attachment to celebrities featured in the content and enhancing the sense of telepresence at the destination. Celebrity attachment itself plays a key mediating role in translating the video marketing experience into behavioral travel intention. These findings underscore the importance of designing authentic, credible, and experience-based video content, as well as the strategic use of celebrities and influencers in the digital marketing strategies of destination management organizations and travel agencies. Marketing managers in this field can more effectively influence the travel intention of potential tourists by designing short-video campaigns that convey a genuine sense of authenticity and by creating richer virtual immersion experiences.