Design of advertising stimuli is critical for marketing, especially to destinations which have limited exposure to visitors. Existing studies postulate the design of advertising affects the amount and valence of thoughts (Cognition), thought confidence (Metacognition) and attitudes towards a destination. Despite this, limited research has considered the influence of emotional arousal and perceived credibility of advertising on cognition, metacognition and attitude. This research implemented a two-by-two experimental design to examine how cognition, metacognition and attitude differ across different levels of emotional arousal and perceived credibility of an advertisement of Iran. Results demonstrate participants showed higher cognitive engagement with the advertisement and more thought confidence and developed more favourable thinking and attitude to Iran in response to a highly credible and emotionally arousing tourism stimulus. A key contribution of this research is that high emotional arousal evokes more favourable cognition, metacognition and attitude towards a destination.