Few previous studies have investigated the formation of travel intention from the perspective of website creativity. Websites are important media for the collection of information on travel destinations today. This prompts the question of how they can affect travel intention through creative design. This study therefore presents a hierarchy of effects (HOE) model for destination website creativity. Based on the three HOE stages of awareness, emotion, and intention, the study seeks to understand how the travel intention of individuals is affected through the cognitive and emotional process produced by exposure to website creativity. The study surveyed 351 users of the official tourism websites of 10 countries/cities in East Asia. Analysis of the results revealed that website creativity could positively induce website awareness, website (destination) attitude and travel intention. These findings can serve as a reference both for website designers in strengthening creative elements to motivate travel intention by website users, as well as for future studies on website communication.