TRAVEL HABITS AND CHANGES CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Abstract

In the past ten years, there has been significant growth in tourism worldwide, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The tourism sector is facing a series of challenges and limitations in the general business environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as is the entire global economy. The current pandemic has slowed down the growth of world tourism and thus led to the poorer performance of private tourism subjects and an increase in unemployment in the sector. This study aims to analyse the habits of the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the changes in behaviour caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The two main questions entertained are: whether socio-demographic variables influenced the intention to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether tourist travel habits influenced the intention to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study uses a quantitative research approach that included data collection through an online survey. The questionnaire link was distributed electronically, via Facebook (social network), and e-mail. The population included in this research are the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The convenience sample included 265 respondents and the research was conducted for one and a half months (from March 2, 2022 to May 17, 2022). The results of the research show that socio-demographic factors influenced the intention to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic and that respondents who own a car would travel more in 2022 than respondents who do not own a car; that respondents aged 31-50 would travel more in 2022 than the older respondents, that respondents who are employed would travel more in 2022 than pensioners, that respondents living in a household of 1-2 members would travel more in 2022 than respondents living in a household of 5 or more members, that respondents with postgraduate studies would travel more in 2022 than respondents with elementary studies only and that respondents with a monthly income of over 2,500 BAM would travel more in 2022 than respondents with monthly income between 500 to 1,500 BAM. The results also show that those respondents who travelled frequently before the COVID-19 pandemic would travel less in 2022 in the context of the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.