Changes in residents’ attitudes toward tourism and perceptions of tourism contribution pre- and peri-Covid-19 pandemic: role of perceived gratitude and damage

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study adopts a retrospective pretest-posttest design to investigate the effects of perceived gratitude and damage on changes in residents’ attitudes toward tourism and the mediating role of residents’ attitudes on their perceptions of tourism contribution before and amid COVID-19 targeting the city of Wuhan. The results indicate that residents’ attitudes are positively changed after COVID-19. Gratitude significantly improves residents’ attitudes when they perceive high damage, whereas the effect of gratitude was meager when perceived damage was low. This study provides a better understanding of residents’ attitudes and tourism contribution and suggests guidelines to recover from the negative event.