What influences tourist behaviors during and after the COVID-19 pandemic? Focusing on theories of risk, coping, and resilience

A Novel Data Analytics Methodology for Discovering Behavioral Risk Profiles: The Case of Diners During a Pandemic

Understanding tourist profiles and behaviors during health pandemics is key to better preparedness for unforeseen future outbreaks, particularly for tourism and hospitality businesses. This study develops and applies a novel data analytics methodology to gain insights into the health risk reduction behavior of restaurant diners/patrons during their dining out experiences in a pandemic. The methodology builds on data relating to four constructs (question categories) and measurements (questions and attributes), with the constructs being worry, health risk prevention behavior, health risk reduction behavior, and demographic characteristics. As a unique contribution, the methodology generates a behavioral typology by identifying risk profiles, which are expressed as one- and two-level decision rules. For example, the results highlighted the significance of restaurants’ adherence to cautionary measures and diners’ perception of seclusion. These and other factors enable a multifaceted analysis, typology, and understanding of diners’ risk profiles, offering valuable guidance for developing managerial strategies and skill development programs to promote safer dining experiences during pandemics. Besides yielding novel types of insights through rules, another practical contribution of the research is the development of a public web-based analytics dashboard for interactive insight discovery and decision support.

A longitudinal analysis of the effects of COVID-19 on tourists' health risk perceptions

The COVID-19 pandemic provoked a large impact on tourism because of the enforcement of harsh travel restrictions and the increased global health risks caused by international mobility. This paper utilizes a longitudinal analysis to tests the impact of COVID-19 on tourists' health risk perceptions, and their relationships with destination image perception and visiting intentions. Tourists are surveyed at two different points of time, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Multi-group structural equation modeling is utilized for the comparison of the relationships at the two points of time. The results show that the negative influence of health risk perceptions on destination image perception and visiting intentions are significantly larger after the COVID-19 pandemic while there are no significant differences in the impact of destination image perception on visiting intentions. Thus, not only are tourists more sensitive to health risk perceptions after COVID-19, but this higher sensitivity has larger impacts both on their perceptions of destination image and on the behavioural implication. The results have useful implications in terms of the need to dedicate more efforts for the management of health conditions of destinations after COVID-19.

Revenge tourism value co-destruction: the role of resilience and altruism

Purpose

Following the trait activation theory, this study aims to shed light on the influence of tourists’ personality traits on their value co-destruction (VCD) behavior in “revenge tourism”, considering the moderating effect of perceived risk as the environment factor.

Design/methodology/approach

A pilot study (n = 204) was first conducted to check the reliability of the measurement scale and remove inappropriate items. Thereafter, a convenience sampling method was used for data collection in the main survey among people (n = 330) who have at least one traveling experience after COVID-19 tourism restrictions have been terminated. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were performed for data analysis to testify the theoretical framework proposed.

Findings

Results of SEM analysis show that both resilience and altruism of tourists reduced their VCD behavior. What’s more, perceived risk has been found to moderate the relationship between altruism and VCD behavior. As perceived risk increased, the negative impact of altruism on VCD behavior would be weaken.

Originality/value

VCD have been recently emphasized as a key block to the development of tourism industry. This study examines VCD behavior following the trait activation theory. Results of the study can provide new insights on how to mitigate VCD, which would contribute to the preparation for future tourism crisis management, such as the next pandemic.

When, where, and with whom during crisis: The effect of risk perceptions and psychological distance on travel intentions

We investigate how risk perceptions and psychological distance impacted people's travel intentions during Covid-19. Our findings reveal that traveling to a high-risk destination increased people's risk perceptions of Covid-19, and their risk perceptions at the destination, which, in turn, reduced people's travel intentions. We identify temporal, spatial, and social distance (the "when, where, and with whom" of traveling) as moderators of these effects; while social distance moderates the effect of risk, on risk perceptions, temporal and spatial distance moderate the effect of risk perceptions on travel intentions. We outline theoretical contributions and implications for tourism during crisis.

Perceptions of COVID-19 Risk: How Did People Adapt to the Novel Risk?

BACKGROUND

There is limited understanding of how risk perceptions changed as the US population gained experience with COVID-19. The objectives were to examine risk perceptions and determine the factors associated with risk perceptions and how these changed over the first 18 mo of the pandemic.

METHODS

Seven cross-sectional online surveys were fielded between May 2020 and October 2021. The study included a population-weighted sample of 138,303 US adults drawn from a market research platform, with an average 68% cooperation rate. Respondents' risk perception of developing COVID in the next 30 days was assessed at each time point. We examined relationships between 30-day risk perceptions and various factors (including sociodemographic features, health, COVID-19 experience, political affiliation, and psychological variables).

RESULTS

COVID risk perceptions were stable across the 2020 surveys and showed a significant decrease in the 2021 surveys. Several factors, including older age, worse health, high COVID worry, in-person employment type, higher income, Democratic political party affiliation (the relatively more liberal party in the United States), low tolerance of uncertainty, and high anxiety were strongly associated with higher 30-d risk perceptions in 2020. One notable change occurred in 2021, in that younger adults (aged 18-29 y) had significantly higher 30-d risk perceptions than older adults did (aged 65 y and older) after vaccination. Initial differences in perception by political party attenuated over time. Higher 30-d risk perceptions were significantly associated with engaging in preventive behaviors.

LIMITATIONS

Cross-sectional samples, risk perception item focused on incidence not severity.

CONCLUSIONS

COVID risk perceptions decreased over time. Understanding the longitudinal pattern of risk perceptions and the factors associated with 30-d risk perceptions over time provides valuable insights to guide public health communication campaigns.

HIGHLIGHTS

The study assessed COVID-19 risk perceptions at 7 time points over 18 mo of the pandemic in large samples of US adults.Risk perceptions were fairly stable until the introduction of vaccines in early 2021, at which point they showed a marked reduction.Higher COVID-19 30-d risk perceptions were significantly associated with the preventive behaviors of masking, limiting social contact, avoiding restaurants, and not entertaining visitors at home.

A comparative study of eight COVID-19 protective measures and their impact on Swiss tourists' travel intentions

A comparative vignette-based experimental survey design incorporating various socio-psychological factors, linked to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking scale (DOSPERT) was carried out to test variations in eight travel-related COVID-19 protective measures on Swiss tourists' travel intentions. Among the tested measures, vaccination passports, surgical masks and quarantining are those that stand out the most, with surgical masks having the greatest acceptance and willingness to adopt while traveling. Quarantining, on the other hand, appears to have a deterrent influence on travel intentions, and vaccination passports have the lowest perceived barriers during travel, but the highest perceived benefits in mitigating the spread of the infection. The discussion of individual differences has specific implications for tourism management against the background of our empirical findings.

Understanding individual psychological and behavioral responses during COVID-19: Application of stimulus-organism-response model

To comprehend the nature, implications, risks and consequences of the events of the COVID-19 crisis, individuals largely relied on various online information sources. The features of online information exchange (e.g., conducted on a massive scale, with an abundance of information and unverified sources) led to various behavioral and psychological responses that are not fully understood. This study therefore investigated the relationship between exposure to online information sources and how individuals sought, forwarded, and provided COVID-19 related information. Anchored in the stimulus-organism-response model, cognitive load theory, and the theory of fear appeal, this study examined the link between the online consumption of COVID-19-related information and psychological and behavioral responses. In the theory development process, we hypothesized the moderating role of levels of fear. The research model included six hypotheses and was empirically verified on self-reported data (N = 425), which was collected in early 2021. The results indicate that continuous exposure to online information sources led to perceived information overload, which further heightened the psychological state of cyberchondria. Moreover, the act of seeking and providing COVID-19 information was significantly predicted by perceived cyberchondria. The results also suggest that higher levels of fear led to increased levels of seeking and providing COVID-19-related information. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are presented, along with promising areas for future research.

Health and Wellness Tourists' Motivation and Behavior Intention: The Role of Perceived Value

In recent years, with the rapid change of people's health concept, health and wellness tourism has shown a vigorous development trend. However, existing literature has been lacking on travelers' behavioral intentions, influenced by their motivation in health and wellness tourism. To fill in this gap, we designed scales of tourists' behavioral intention and motivation in health and wellness tourism and investigated the aforementioned effects, with a sample of 493 visitors who have traveled in health and wellness tourism. Factor analysis and structural equation models were applied to explore the relations among motivation, perceived value, and behavioral intention in health and wellness tourism. The results indicate that health and wellness tourists' motivation significantly positively predicts their behavior intentions. Travelers' perceived value of health and wellness tourism significantly partially mediates the associations between their behavioral intention and escape motivation, attractive motivation, environmental motivation, as well as interpersonal motivation. No empirical evidence supports the mediating role of perceived value in the correlation between consumption motivation and behavioral intention. Health and wellness tourism industries are encouraged to meet the intrinsic motivation of travelers and make them perceive the value of this kind of tourism, which in turn promotes tourists' choice, evaluation, and satisfaction of health and wellness tourism.

Enhancing Literature Review and Understanding Under Global Pandemic

As the continuous public health crisis, the communicable diseases of COVID-19, OMI and Monkeybox fallout are striking parallels to the whole world. The scope and duration of these disasters are unprecedented. The tourism industry has become one of the hit hardest industries, and research on tourism risks and safety of public health are more of big concerns in recent years. In this study, 751 SSCI articles on risk and tourism from 2008 to 2022 were selected through literature retrieval using the Web of Science core collection database, and visual analysis was performed using CiteSpace to show the knowledge evolution process, research hotspots and future trends in this field. The analysis results show that there has been an overall upward trend in the number of research studies on risk and tourism in the past 15 years. Secondly, there is an international trend toward cooperation between scholars. The main cooperation network centers are Australia, England, the United States and China. In addition, there are seven main clusters of research topics in the field of risk and tourism. Finally, the change of research hotspots is also closely related to catastrophic events. After the outbreak of the COVID-19, public health and the recovery of the tourism industry has attracted more and more scholars' attention. By examining and analyzing the research content of risk, public health and tourism studies over the past 15 years, this study provides suggestions for the risk management of tourism and tries to predict the new development trend of tourism in the post-COVID-19 era.

Pointers to Interventions for Promoting COVID-19 Protective Measures in Tourism: A Modelling Approach Using Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale, Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Health Belief Model

Based on the factors of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the Health Belief Model (HBM), and the DOSPERT scale, used to measure general risk-taking behaviour, a combined model has been developed for investigating tourists’ intentions to implement protective measures against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of the study is to formulate a model that Swiss tourism practitioners can use to understand tourists’ decision-making regarding the acceptance and proper implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). A large-scale cross-sectional population study that is representative for the Swiss population has been designed to validate the model (N = 1,683; 39% response rate). In our empirical investigation, a simple regression analysis is used to detect significant factors and their strength. Our empirical findings show that the significant effects can be ordered regarding descending effect size from severity (HBM), attitude (TPB), perceived behavioural control (TPB), subjective norm (TPB), self-efficacy (HBM), and perceived barriers (HBM) to susceptibility (HBM). Based on this information, intervention strategies and corresponding protective measures were linked to the social-psychological factors based on an expert workshop. Low-cost interventions for tourists (less time, less money, and more comfort), such as the free provision of accessories (free mask and sanitizers) or free testing (at cable cars), can increase the perceived behavioural control and lower the perceived barriers and thus increase the acceptance of this protective measure.

Entrepreneurial Intention and Delayed Job Satisfaction From the Perspective of Emotional Interaction: The Mediating of Psychological Capital

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exacerbated the labour shortage, and promoting entrepreneurship to spur job creation is one of the most effective strategies to address this problem. Entrepreneurs must lengthen their employment or start-up cycles due to COVID-19 normalisation. Consequently, the impact of career willingness to delay satisfaction on entrepreneurial ambition is investigated in this research via an online survey in Jiangsu Province, China. The findings show that students with a high level of career delayed contentment has a higher level of entrepreneurial intention (EI), implying that career delayed contentment intention influences EI positively. Psychological capital (PC) modifies this process, increasing the influence of job delayed satisfaction on EI by strengthening PC. PC's significant components are self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and flexibility. This study combines the willingness to wait for satisfaction with the willingness to start a business, providing a valuable reference for reducing the work condition caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.