Abstract
Despite the danger of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to natural tourism destinations such as national parks are continuing, though people are using less congested trails or minimizing personal contact. Given the danger from COVID-19, the purpose of our study was to use an expanded theory of planned behavior to analyze whether tourists intend to continue to visit national parks. Another purpose for our study was to compare an extant research model based on the theory of planned behavior with the extended model we developed. Frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and other statistical techniques, such as correlation analysis, parsimonious fit index, and squared multiple correlations were employed according to the appropriate objectives. Additionally, the number of 351 participants joined the survey. Our study found that perception of risk of COVID-19 negatively affected attitude and perceived behavioral control in both models. Moreover, the perceived behavioral control had a positive effect on coping behavior. Given the analytical results, our study presents not only theoretical implications for understanding the behavior of those who visit national parks, but also practical implications for operation and management of national parks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
The global shock from the COVID-19 pandemic has continued
Our finding suggests other variables that involve perception of risk and coping behavior regarding COVID-19 that can be added to extend the theory of planned behavior [30,31]
Hypotheses 1–3 explain that perception of risk of contracting COVID-19 has a significant effect on attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control [67,69]
Summary
The global shock from the COVID-19 pandemic has continued. People have generally recovered from either large or small infectious disease pandemics within about five months, but there is a difference between the past and the present, in that it is difficult to guarantee a complete end to COVID-19 during 2021 [1,2]. This uncertainty is having an unprecedented impact on both the inbound and the outbound tourism markets [3,4]. The social concern driven by the pandemic can emerge as avoidance of travel, but at present our study is still significant, because natural or environmental destinations are being visited consistently and steadily [8,9]
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