Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak has restricted international travel, halting tourism globally. Thus, travel demand has shifted from international to domestic destinations. The prolonged travel restriction has changed travel trends and travelers’ behaviors, adversely affecting the tourism industry worldwide. This study attempted to understand and examine the changes in travel preferences, such as choice of destinations, activities, and transportation modes, following the COVID-19 outbreak. This study used primary survey data of 200 respondents collected in June 2020 and secondary survey data collected by the Korea Tourism Organization in 2015 and 2017. The study also examined the role of the government in supporting strategies to prepare for the post-COVID tourism landscape. The analysis showed that the pandemic has caused travelers to favor short-haul destinations where non-contact (socially distanced) travel is possible. The study also found that the distributed land strategy that can make “untact” tourism a possibility could boost the struggling tourism industry.
Highlights
Over the last half-century, air travel has become less expensive with globalization, and, global tourism has grown rapidly [1]
We examined how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected domestic tourism in Korea, coastal tourism, and explored potential strategies for developing coastal tourism for a post-COVID-19 scenario based on coastal engineering and urban planning perspectives
Inbound tourist arrivals at popular destinations, such as Barcelona, Berlin, and Florence, have significantly decreased, while popular domestic destinations for locals, such as Belfast, Nice, and Orlando, have seen an increase in tourist arrivals. This preference for traveling shorter distances during the pandemic is a global phenomenon. These findings indicate that visits to populated and well-known beaches have decreased after the outbreak of COVID-19, whereas visits to underpopulated beaches have relatively increased
Summary
Over the last half-century, air travel has become less expensive with globalization, and, global tourism has grown rapidly [1]. Tourism infrastructure development largely occurs by building hotels, airports, roads, and shopping malls in tourist destinations with beautiful coastal environments and tropical climates, promoting economic growth. These developments have helped local economies, small and medium businesses, and job creation in many countries. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, sustainability and globalization constituted the main motivation for developing coastal tourism and destinations. Such drivers appear to be less associated with the characteristics of the newly created needs of tourists amid the COVID-19 crisis.
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