This study aims to clarify the psychological mechanisms through which viewing OTT drama content influences tourism behavior. Specifically, it examines how audience involvement - both behavioral and emotional - affects tourism motivation and visit intention through the mediating role of tourism affinity. A survey was conducted with 546 Japanese Netflix users who had watched Korean dramas, and data were analyzed using PROCESS macro model 6. The results show that audience involvement positively influences both tourism motivation and tourism affinity, which in turn fully mediate the effect on visit intention. In particular, audience involvement does not directly affect visit intention; rather, it exerts an indirect influence through tourism affinity and tourism motivation. Academically, this study bridges media psychology and tourism studies by empirically verifying the mediating role of the newly introduced concept of tourism affinity. Practically, it demonstrates that visual content serves as a strategic tool for creating emotional connections with tourism destinations, thereby enhancing tourism motivation and visit intention. The findings suggest the effectiveness of storytelling-based tourism promotion strategies.
