Abstract
This study attempts to assess the relationship between risk perception, risk knowledge, and travel intentions of Chinese leisure travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the framework of social contagion and risk communication theories by analyzing a sample of 1,209 travelers through structural equation modeling (SEM) and path analysis. We used the process macro of Hayes to analyze the moderation effects of age, gender, and education between risk perception, media and interpersonal communication, and risk knowledge. It was found that travelers were more concerned about self-efficacy than severity. Risk perception of travelers predicts the information-seeking process of tourists. This process helps travelers to accumulate risk information that influences their travel intentions. Travelers give more importance to interpersonal (contagion) communication in making a traveling decision. Demographic factors influence traveling decision-making; women travelers were found to be more risk resilient than men. Young travelers seek information at low- and old travelers at high-risk levels. Marketing implications also provided.
Highlights
The tourism industry is most vulnerable to natural disasters, conflicts, terrorism, and economic crisis
This study investigates the association between risk perception, media communication, interpersonal communication, risk knowledge, and travel behavior intentions of Chinese travelers
Minimum attention has been paid to the risk of infectious diseases and their impacts on traveling behavioral intentions
Summary
The tourism industry is most vulnerable to natural disasters, conflicts, terrorism, and economic crisis. The health measures and communication approaches, such as homestay campaigns, lockdowns, travel bans, quarantine, and social distancing, have ceased tourism-related industries operations. The tourism industry shows its resilience in bouncing back from major economic, political, and health crises (Sigala, 2020); the unprecedented vulnerabilities of COVID-19 unveiled that the crisis is different and would have long-lasting structural changes to the tourism industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the existing economic and tourism systems, has led the world to a recession, and has limited the potential of travelers to their homes. The COVID-19 epidemic undoubtedly uncovered that the lack of knowledge restrained the capability of the tourism industry to manage the uncertainty and risk of this magnitude.
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