Should I Stay or Should I Go? Tourists’ COVID-19 Risk Perception and Vacation Behavior Shift

Marija Bratić,Eva Podovšovnik,Olivera Simović,Nenad Stojiljković,Emil Juvan,Miha Lesjak,Aleksandar Radivojević

doi:10.3390/su13063573

Marija Bratić, Eva Podovšovnik + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063573

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Abstract

Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on global tourism for at least two reasons: (1) imposed systematic travel restrictions that discourage people from traveling even though they would like to; and (2) increased travel anxiety due to the perceived risk of the COVID-19 virus, causing people to change their typical travel behavior. This study aims to explore the role of Covid-19 in shaping future travel behavior. More specifically, following the general model of vacation behavior and the role of risk in travel behavior, we investigate how COVID-19 influences travelers’ perceptions of risk and how this affects planned vacation behavior. The results show that COVID-19 risk perception per se influences typical forms of vacation behavior, but this risk also leads to the development of travel anxiety, which additionally influences only some forms of vacation behavior. Empirical findings show that general anxiety, which is not associated with Covid-19 risk perception, also predicts some forms of planned changes in vacation behaviour. The study concludes with recommendations on how to reduce traveler uncertainty in order to recover international leisure travel.

Highlights

Published: 23 March 2021The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the greatest challenges facing the world in the21st century, with clear substantial negative impacts on the global economy [1], mortality rates [2], politics [3], and tourism [4]
The results demonstrate that COVID-19 presents an important risk for international travel which by itself, shifts typical vacation plans; understanding COVID-19 as a travel risk may lead to a development of travel anxiety which affects vacation plans
Covid-19 pandemic leads to the development of COVID-19 travel risk perception and travel anxiety; and most likely to general anxiety

Summary

Introduction

21st century, with clear substantial negative impacts on the global economy [1], mortality rates [2], politics [3], and tourism [4]. As a global spreader of viruses [6,7], was one of the first industries directly affected by the global pandemic measures [8]. As a key measure to control the Corona pandemic [9], caused unprecedented negative disruption to the global tourism economy [10]. Since 2000, tourism has faced a variety of infectious diseases (e.g., SARS, swine flu, avian flu, and others) whose negative economic impact was limited to specific countries or regions [11,12,13,14,15], but COVID-19 has affected the entire world.

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