Abstract
The rebirth of global tourism with a massive rebound is anticipated due to an emerging touristic behavior coined as vaxication (i.e., post-vaccination travel). Despite the ongoing fatigue triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, travelers’ fear of missing out (FOMO), and destination crisis marketing (DCM) can further accelerate travelers’ momentum towards vaxication. To address this critical knowledge gap in COVID-19 tourism, the present study aimed to examine the effect of pandemic fatigue on vaxication intention for the greatest of all trips (GOAT) under the moderating influence of travel FOMO and destination crisis marketing. Drawing on data of international expatriates in the United Arab Emirates (N = 356) and using covariance-based structural equation modeling with Mplus, the findings provide new evidence supporting a positive impact of international expat’s pandemic fatigue on vaxication intention for GOAT. Interestingly, this relationship is significantly reinforced by the international expat’s travel FOMO as well as tourism destinations switching gears from ‘managing crisis’ to ‘marketing crisis’. Based on prominent theories (i.e., theory of planned behavior, cognitive load theory, and protection motivation theory) and newly developed scales (i.e., travel FOMO and destination crisis marketing), the study implications are directed towards an outpacing trajectory of global tourism return prompted by pandemic fatigue, travel FOMO, destination crisis marketing, and vaxication intention for the greatest of all trips.
Highlights
The present study developed and validated a comprehensive model that examined the influence of pandemic fatigue on vaxication intention for greatest of all trips (GOAT)
This study found the moderating effect of destination crisis marketing on the aforementioned relationship between expat’s pandemic fatigue and vaxication intentions, which is in line with the recent literature highlighting that COVID-branded destination safety (CBDS)
The revival of pre-pandemic tourism seems to be psychologically clouded, owing to the planned choices of travelers based on health and safety concerns [96]
Summary
The growing travel optimism (e.g., travelers’ belief that the worst of the pandemic is behind us) may still be premature, owing to the existent gap between travelers’ expectations and the host destinations’ restricted realities [1,2]. Reckless crisis marketing by destinations could create an inevitable risk even for the vaccinated travelers (including those who received their third/booster dose), as they might not be fully immune to the latest twist in the COVID-19 outbreaks (e.g., surge of omicron among the fully vaccinated) [3,4]. Despite the uncontrolled and chaotic outbreak of new COVID-19 variants (e.g., delta and omicron), the desire to travel remains significant across the globe [1,2,3]. The global tourism in the Sustainability 2022, 14, 2312.
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