Abstract
Although the negative economic impacts of COVID-19 are undiscovered, the tourism industry is recognized as one of the most vulnerable sectors. Considering tourism’s contribution to Malaysia’s GDP, this study aims to examine vendors’ attitudes and perceptions towards international tourists in night markets after the emergence of COVID-19 and the impacts of propagation power of COVID-19 on vendors’ perceptions in Malaysia. As large numbers of informal workers lost 60% of their income worldwide due to the pandemic, a lack of research is observed on vendors’ attitudes after the pandemic, especially in Southeast Asia. The study model was derived on the basis of the revised social exchange theory (SET). A questionnaire survey was conducted among local vendors in Malaysia using a multistage probability sampling method. Findings revealed that place attachment has a significant effect on positive perception but not negative perception towards international tourists’ receptiveness. Results indicate that positive perceptions towards international tourists significantly and positively mediate the relationship among place attachment, economic gain, and involvement with tourist receptiveness. Moreover, the research concluded that vendors still have positive attitudes towards international tourists’ receptiveness due to economic gain and their place attachment and involvement levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
Owing to the rapid outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from its origin in Wuhan, China, in mid-December 2019 [1], the World Health Organization (WHO)declared the phenomena as a pandemic on 11 March 2020 [2]
This study aimed to evaluate vendors’ attitudes and receptiveness towards international tourists after the COVID−19 outbreak in Malaysia’s night markets
The study is important given its practical focus on vendors’ attitudes and their receptiveness towards international tourists which is missing in the night market literature [17,102]
Summary
Owing to the rapid outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from its origin in Wuhan, China, in mid-December 2019 [1], the World Health Organization (WHO)declared the phenomena as a pandemic on 11 March 2020 [2]. Owing to the rapid outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from its origin in Wuhan, China, in mid-December 2019 [1], the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite the different intervention policies for outbreak prevention, COVID-19 has infected more than 55 million people and caused over one million deaths (as of 30 October 2020) around the world [3]. The interventions can be categorised into two main policies, including (i) increasing the diagnostic testing, improving the clinical producers, and rapid isolation of confirmed cases [4]; and (ii) restriction of mobility in global, national, and regional levels [5]. The tourism industry is one of the most affected sectors by COVID-19 [6], as most countries have implemented entry restrictions on all foreign nationals in response to the COVID-19 outbreak [5,7]. International tourism slowed down by 22% in the first quarter of 2020, and the number of international tourists is forecasted to drop by 60–80% in 2020 [8].
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