Tourism Recovery Research Articles

Digital Nomads as A Strategy to Accelerate the Religious Tourism Recovery in Post-Pandemic

This study aims to analyze the potential of Kudus Regency in implementing digital nomads as a strategy to accelerate Islamic religious tourism recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is important because even though pandemic control has gotten better, there is no guarantee that a virulent virus like COVID-19 will not emerge again and then have an impact on the tourism vacuum. To examine the potential of digital nomads in the Kudus Regency, the research results will be displayed using four aspects of tourism products including attraction, accessibility, amenity, and ancillary, and then discussed with SWOT as an analytical tool. This study uses a qualitative and descriptive approach where data collection is done by observation, interviews with seven informants, and focus group discussions with ten experts. The research results showed that: First, the attraction aspect is very promising because of the many and a varied number of Islamic religious tourism destinations in Kudus. Second, the accessibility aspect still needs improvement because the bus is the only mass public transportation option that directly reaches Kudus. Third, the amenities aspect requires adjustments to prices and health protocol standards. Fourth, the ancillary aspect is quite promising because health facilities, banking, and internet networks are wellavailable. Thus, attraction and ancillary become elements of strength (S), accessibility becomes weakness (W), and amenities become opportunity (O). However, attraction can also turn into a threat (T) if it is not managed properly because many tourist objects have died after the pandemic.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on Risk Management Perception in Tourism Business

The COVID-19 pandemic is an infectious disease; through the dispersion of steam in the air, the level of rapid global infection, normal control measures have not been effective. Scientists have access to research and publication on the impact of the COVID -19 pandemic. One of the differences in each study depends on the actual population area and habitat of each community in each country. Through this study, it will provide information on the impact relationship of the COVID-19 epidemic in the field of tourism business risk management to have a basis for understanding of tourism risk management response in sustainable tourism recovery and development.
 This study is based on behavioral theories, and pathogen stress theories applied extended scales to survey visitors at tourist attractions. The process of collecting data of 487 response and using structural equation modeling to analyze the data.
 Research results have verified the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on risk management issues in tourism business including travel risk and management perception, risk Management places of visitors, awareness of limiting contact when traveling, hygiene and safety awareness, perceived behavioral control, emergency processing support channel.
 This research contributes to a better explanation of the behavioral theory framework and helps to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in the field of tourism business risk management as well as establish emergency responses for visitors in the future.

What drives willingness to travel in the context of COVID-19?—A measurement of eco-environmental values

The outbreak of COVID-19 has had tremendous impacts on human health and the world economy. Studies have focused on the impact of COVID-19 on potential tourists and tourism destinations from the perspectives of individuals, industries and organizations, and they have provided some measures for tourism recovery. However, under the situation of individual restriction, research has not systematically explained residents’ desire for trips of different distances and factors or the similarities and differences in the factors affecting tourism willingness for trips of different distances. In this context, a measurement of eco-environmental values is used to investigate these issues to help the tourism economy recover. Using online questionnaires covering all provinces in mainland China, this paper investigates residents’ travel willingness to make trips of different distances, and it utilizes binary logistic regression analysis to examine the factors that help predict tourists’ travel intentions. In addition, the patterns of willingness to travel different distances are displayed in maps generated by ArcGIS software. The results suggest that the objective COVID-19 confirmed case distribution follows distance decay theory; however, the distribution patterns of travel willingness are not in accordance with distance decay. The factors that have a significant impact on predicting travel willingness regarding the three kinds of trip distances are educational background, cognition of COVID-19, and geographical division factors. Income and the severity of the pandemic situation play different roles in predicting travel willingness in this study. Overall, the findings of this study extend the application of distance decay theory, which contributes to tourism studies in the COVID-19 context. The findings are also beneficial for tourism recovery and crisis management against the backdrop of pandemic normalization.

Tourist Behavior and Sustainable Tourism Policy Planning in the COVID-19 Era: Insights from Thailand

The COVID-19 outbreak has drastically altered the behavior of tourists, posing a significant challenge to countries that heavily rely on the tourism industry to develop sustainable policies. This study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques to analyze the effects of four variable groups on travel decisions during the pandemic. These groups include tourism potential, tourism logistics efficiency, the impact of COVID-19 on tourism potential, and the impact of COVID-19 on logistics efficiency. We collected data from a sample group of 943 foreign tourists visiting Thailand through online and on-site questionnaires. Our findings reveal that accommodation and information flow were the most significant factors affecting travel decisions during the pandemic, while the mode of transport had minimal impact. Based on our results, we recommend that post-COVID-19 tourism policies focus on improving accommodation quality and hygiene standards and building networks that offer comprehensive and up-to-date information about the pandemic. Our proposed approach is more efficient and cost-effective than mobilizing resources across all tourism industry sectors. It promotes sustainable tourism recovery planning while minimizing adverse effects on the community. These results are particularly relevant to stakeholders and policymakers who have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and need to develop effective tourism policies.

The role of sports events in developing tourism destinations: a systematized review and future research agenda

ABSTRACT The link between sports and tourism has been widely researched. In this context, many studies have focused on sports event (SEs), finding that SEs provide a multitude of opportunities but also face many challenges at a local level. Despite the academic interest in the sports event tourism field, there is still little synthesis and no overview of research directions. Therefore, we proposed answering three research questions (RQs): What do we know today about the tourism perspectives of sports events? (RQ1); What are the main tourism implications of a sports event? (RQ2); What are the most and least investigated streams of research in this specific field of study? (RQ3). To answer these questions we conducted a systematized literature analysis including worldwide literature published between June 2000 and October 2020. Based on the findings, we provided insights into six clusters and their characteristics and highlighted major avenues to describe how SEs provide unique assets for tourism host destinations. Finally, we drew attention to important implications for future research, particularly in the context of the role of events for tourism recovery in the post-COVID-19 time.

China’s Tourism Industry under COVID-19: Impact & Response

The outbreak of COVID-19 has strained the global economic situation, and many industries are facing serious threats. As COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe, countries around the world have introduced strict travel controls. The tourism business has experienced unprecedented effects as a result of unfavorable external circumstances and customer anxiety. This paper examines COVID-19's effects on the travel and tourism sector, explaining the development status of China's domestic, inbound and outbound tourism market under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, discovering the changes of college students' travel decisions before and after the pandemic, and demonstrating the severe damages of tourism enterprises, in particular, enterprises that mainly operate the hotel business and travel agency business. After that, the effectiveness and rationality of the existing tourism recovery strategies are evaluated. This paper adopted the research methods of questionnaire survey and chart analysis to investigate the changes in college students' tourism consumption and the number of trips before and after the epidemic, and to evaluate the tourism recovery strategies which are implemented in China, such as issuing travel consumption coupons, the government's economic support for tourism companies. Eventually, the most suitable recovery strategy for China's current tourist market will be analyzed.

Promoting Green Buildings and Low-Carbon Design Strategies of Green B&B Rooms for Sustainable Tourism after COVID-19

COVID-19 opened a window of opportunity to change the green development of the hospitality industry. For many years, Chinese tourists have been the world’s largest source of outbound tourists. Therefore, this study attempted to improve built-environment strategies for green rooms at B&Bs using the empirical statistics of Chinese tourists after the end of COVID-19 control measures and different green B&B standards, combining IPA (importance-performance analysis). For the lack of a green built-environment study from a tourism perspective, this study can be used mainly for improving the green satisfaction of urban B&Bs as it attempted to fill the gaps in research on green B&B rooms. This study will significantly help improve the quality of green rooms for the B&B industry in the future, and it also provides an improved green B&B room sample for other countries and regions. Moreover, it is an optimistic attempt at hospitality and tourism recovery.

Advancing tourism recovery through virtual tourism marketing: an integrated approach of uses and gratifications theory and attachment to VR

ABSTRACT Although virtual tourism (VT) has been touted as an effective alternative or transitional solution to tourism, few researches have been conducted on how to maintain and enhance visitors’ satisfaction with it and how to translate positive sentiments into on-site travel intentions. This study proposes a conceptual model under the uses and gratifications theory and attachment theory. It aims to investigate the gratification factors that improve tourist satisfaction of VT and to determine the effect of attachment to virtual reality (VR), satisfaction, and loyalty on the intention to visit the destination recommended. To test the model, a sample of 624 respondents was captured and the PLS-SEM was used. The findings suggest that informativeness, entertainment, and social interactivity determine tourists’ satisfaction, with entertainment being the most important factor. Attachment to VR has a significantly positive impact on improving satisfaction and transforming the uses and gratifications of VT into on-site visit intention. However, the positive impact of satisfaction with VT on on-site tourism intention reduces as the level of connection to nature increases. This study extends UGT theory and provides references for tourism practitioners and managers to enhance tourists’ VT satisfaction and to advance tourism speedy recovery.

St. Kitts and Nevis

Economic growth rebounded strongly in 2022 despite global headwinds. GDP is estimated to have grown by 9 percent in 2022 after contracting 14.5 percent in 2020 and 0.9 percent in 2021. The lifting of all COVID-related travel restrictions in August sparked a strong rebound in the tourism sector and across the economy. Yet economic activity is not back to pre-pandemic levels. Inflation picked up, increasing from 1.9 percent in 2021 to 3.8 percent in 2022, reaching the highest level in a decade. The authorities’ proactive policy response, facilitated by the fiscal buffers accumulated from a decade of prudent fiscal policy, helped shelter domestic prices from high global energy and food prices. These measures nonetheless took a heavy toll on fiscal accounts in 2022. The primary balance ex-CBI revenue and land buybacks, an indicator of the underlying fiscal stance, deteriorated to a deficit of 17 percent of GDP (vs. 15 percent in 2021). Large CBI inflows in 2022 helped finance this expansion, keeping public debt below the ECCU regional target of 60 percent of GDP. The current account deficit is estimated to have narrowed in 2022, supported by tourism recovery.

Protected area management effectiveness and COVID-19: The case of Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia.

Post-pandemic recovery of PA requires prioritisation risk framework to identify specific objectives that should be addressed first and which require additional effort or funding. Facing a crisis PA will allocate financial resources in a way that sustains primary functions such as conservation until negative trends change, or at least until financial resources become available. PAs require a paradigm shift, which includes tailoring of financial mechanisms to practical and policy purposes, effective allocation of financial resources, and responsible tourism recovery plans that capture the value and efforts of conservation through tourism and investments in nature-based solutions for sustainable tourism within PA.

Analysis of Coping Strategies for Tourism Market Under the New Normal Situation of the COVID-19 Epidemic

The outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 has brought a huge impact on the tourism industry, becoming the most far-reaching and sweeping public health event since China's reform and opening up. How much impact the epidemic will have on the tourism economy and how to deal with the crisis to promote the recovery of tourism have become urgent questions. Based on the analysis of the impact of the epidemic on tourism revenue, tourism forms, tourism market structure, and tourism product upgrading trend, this paper puts forward some coping strategies for the tourism market under the new normal situation of the epidemic, including booking tourism, self-service tourism, construction of smart scenic spots, online and offline tourism consumption, "Internet + tourism" mode, and tourism sector policy assistance. Hoping to bring some enlightenment to the development of tourism under normal situation of the new epidemic.

Melting the Psychological Boundary: How Interactive and Sensory Affordance Influence Users’ Adoption of Digital Heritage Service

As a result of the post-pandemic situation, enhancing digital heritage services has become one of the key issues for the recovery of tourism. Disruptive innovation in human–computer interaction technology has brought new opportunities for digitalization and intelligent transformation in the contemporary cultural tourism industry. Existing research on the adoption behavior of digital heritage services primarily focuses on users’ assessments of behavior results. There is a considerable gap in research about the interaction and value co-creation between users and digital intelligence services and users’ cognitive construction logic of digital heritage services. Following reciprocal determinism, we propose a conceptual model to deconstruct the detailed transmission path of interactive affordance and sensory affordance to digital heritage adoption. In Study 1, a lab experiment in an AI-assisted smart screen digital heritage service context revealed that interactive affordance and user adoption of digital heritage services were partially mediated by psychological distance. Findings from a between-subject online experiment in Study 2 confirmed that embodied cognition and psychological distance play a parallel intermediary role in the impact of sensory affordance on adoption. In Study 3, a lab experiment in a VR-based digital museum context further verified that information overload moderates the influence of embodied cognition on psychological distance. This research reveals the deep-bounded, rational decision-making logic of digital heritage service adoption and provides significant practical enlightenment for the optimization of the affordance experience.

The Socio-Technical Road to Tourism Recovery in the Post-Pandemic World

ABSTRACT COVID-19 has posed a massive challenge for destination marketers to restore safety perceptions among tourists after the onslaught of the pandemic. The objective of the current study is to develop an integrated model linking social and technical elements via socio-technical theory helping in theory development and tourism recovery. Destination marketing researchers agree on the importance of STTs to restore faith among tourists However, there is a lack of theory in the studies related to tourism recovery. Socio-technical theory, which attributes the interdependence of technical systems and social systems for maximizing organizational productivity is used by the current study to help understand the tourism recovery process. This study uses the elements of socio-technical theory in a structural equation model (SEM) to help destination marketers better understand the effect of technology in attaining tourism recovery. Based on self-selection sampling, we collected the data via a web survey from makemytrip.com, the modeling in this study was done via variance-based structural equation modeling. The study results demonstrate a strong effect of Smart Tourism Technologies (STTs) in reducing the impact of pandemics on tourists’ perceptions.

Interactive webcam travel: supporting wildlife tourism and conservation during COVID-19 lockdowns

Using the conceptual frameworks and theories of virtual tourism, telepresence and para-social interactions, this exploratory study investigates an innovative campaign employed by a nature-based wildlife tourism operator as a response to the COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions of 2020/21. Insights are provided into a unique model of webcam livestreaming that is scheduled, hosted and interactive. Over 73,000 social media comments and 590 survey responses from webcam viewers were analysed and indicate that watching the livestream had positive impacts for tourism recovery and conservation action. Research findings suggest that interactive webcam travel can affect travel behaviour and conservation awareness and action in part through building and engaging online communities and supporting a sense of connection with nature. This study contributes new knowledge to the emerging research on webcam livestreaming in tourism. As a subset of virtual tourism, interactive webcam travel emerges as an alternative to more costly forms of virtual reality for industry practitioners and stakeholders to engage new and old audiences, especially in the context of tourism recovery initiatives after disasters and crises that prevent or limit physical visitation.

Forecasting Travel Sentiment under the Shock Effects of COVID-19 and Vaccination Using Grey Prediction Models

The tourism industry has become a major contributor to the economic growth. However, because of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the year 2020 became an extremely difficult year for the global tourism industry. Since the development of the tourism industry depends largely on changes in travel sentiment, it is important to analyze these changes in light of the pandemic. To determine the development trends of travel sentiment, a hybrid grey prediction model was used to predict travel sentiment globally and in the top 10 destination countries considering the shock effect of COVID-19 and vaccination. The results showed that the grey prediction models integrated with residual modification model contributed to improving the prediction accuracy. In addition, COVID-19 and vaccination were found to have opposite effects on travel sentiment. Based on the predictions, governments should strengthen pandemic prevention and control and administer vaccines to restore travel sentiment and promote tourism recovery.

Diaspora engagement in tourism crisis recovery: the case of Indonesia

Diseño/metodología/enfoqueEste estudio se basó en el paradigma de constructivismo social y empleó un enfoque cualitativo. Se realizaron cuatro grupos focales (n = 25) y diez entrevistas individuales con emigrantes indonesios en Estados Unidos. Se utilizó el análisis temático para identificar los temas principales.PropósitoLa dispersión de grupos humanos que abandonan su lugar de origen, también denominado, diáspora o emigrantes, representan un grupo único y, sin embargo, a menudo ignorado en la gestión del turismo. Sus fuertes lazos con su tierra natal a menudo dan como resultado una relación con una comunidad extendida, la cual es valiosa para su tierra natal durante tiempos difíciles. Este estudio examinó el rol de los emigrantes indonesios en Estados Unidos para revivir el turismo en Indonesia durante las primeras etapas de la pandemia de COVID-19 y su motivación detrás de esos esfuerzos.ResultadosLos hallazgos muestran que el rol de la diáspora provino de dos amplias categorías: 1) activismo social, como transferencia de información, transferencia de habilidades y conocimientos, y 2) activismo económico, incluidas actividades filantrópicas, inversión y remesas, y viajes de regreso a casa. Tanto los motivos altruistas como los de intercambio social son las causas de esta relación. Los hallazgos ejemplifican la “diplomacia de la diáspora” que puede ser aprovechada como capital social para la recuperación del turismo en tierra natal después de una crisis.OriginalidadEste estudio ofrece un análisis profundo del rol de la diáspora en la recuperación del turismo. Este estudio destaca la importancia de los emigrantes como capital social para los destinos y ofrece información sobre el manejo de crisis turísticas mediante la incorporación de este interesante pero ignorado grupo.

The analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on wellness tourism

Wellness tourism, a new tourism mode that focuses on helping people maintain and condition their bodies while meeting the needs of travel and sightseeing, has grown rapidly and gained popularity in recent years. The outbreak of COVID-19 has dealt a major blow to the wellness tourism industry. This paper rationally analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on the wellness tourism industry from three aspects: tourism economy, tourists' willingness, and market recovery. The study finds that COVID-19 is probably a crucial stage to promote the development of wellness tourism. And the paper proposes strategies to cope with COVID-19 for government and enterprises respectively, such as strengthening economic policy encouragement and improving enterprises' own strength, and retains great confidence in the development of wellness tourism. Through the joint efforts of the whole society, wellness tourism can gradually thrive and eventually reach an unprecedented level of prosperity. This paper makes a systematic analysis of the blow of COVID-19, which helps the country and enterprises to make future planning to assist the recovery of wellness tourism, and has some practical significance.

Implementation of Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability (CHSE) in Homestay at Cibuntu Tourism Village Kuningan District, West Java

As part of the development of tourist villages, homestays are part of a tourism amenity that combines affordable lodging and authentic local culture. The existence of homestays is very closely related to Tourism Villages, including the Cibuntu Tourism Village, Kuningan Regency, West Java. This research evaluates homestay business management and implementation of CHSE in the village during the Covid-19 pandemic and tourism recovery efforts in Cibuntu Tourism Village. The theory used in this research is D. Janianton, P. A. Kusuma, and D. Mutiarin (2021) regarding the post Covid-19 recovery strategy. In addition, the CHSE theory also uses the definition of CHSE according to the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (2020). This research was conducted using a literature study and interviews with local tourism village managers. This research is expected to provide input for homestay managers to help prevent and control COVID-19. At the same time, related tourism villages can improve the implementation of the CHSE protocol to increase a sense of security and comfort for visitors and the local village community. Keywords: CHSE, Homestay, Tourist Village DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/63-04 Publication date: February 28 th 2023

Residents’ Perception of Tourism Impact, Participation and Support in Destinations under the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Intermediary Role of Government Trust

Community residents’ support is one of the key factors affecting the development of tourist destinations. A clear understanding of influencing factors and internal transmission mechanisms in community residents’ support for tourism can lend to a theoretical basis and reference for tourism management departments to formulate relevant policies. It is therefore conducive to the rapid recovery and sustainable development of tourism amidst the intermittent outbreaks of COVID-19 pandemic. Taking Guilin as the site for a case study, this study examined the effect of local residents’ perceptions of risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, benefits of tourism and residents’ participation in it, government trust, and support for tourism. In particular, the intermediary role of residents’ tourism participation and the moderating role of government trust has been explored. A total of 383 residents in Guilin City were selected as the sample for hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that perceived risks had a significant negative impact on support for tourism, but no significant impact on resident participation. Tourism’s perceived benefits had a significant positive impact on both support for and participation in tourism, and residents’ participation played a partial mediating role in the relationship between perceived benefits of and support for tourism. Government trust played a significant moderating role in the relationship between tourism’s perceived benefits and residents’ participation, between perceived benefits and support for tourism, and between residents’ participation in and support for tourism.

Analysis of dynamic agility orchestration resources as a model for Sunda Strait Coastal tourism recovery

This study aims to do two things: 1) figure out why coastal tourism isn't coming back, and 2) find a way to connect the results of different studies on how tourism affects coastal tourism recovery. Part of the research plan was to do a causal study, which looks for a link between a cause and an effect. Purposive sampling was used to select samples from the study populations of tourism actors in the Sunda Strait and Banten Province. The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively (mixed methods).The IBM SPSS AMOS 21 (Analysis of Moment Structure) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) AMOS 21 programs were used to do descriptive analysis and test models and hypotheses. There was a connection between the tsunami disaster and the COVID-19 pandemic. These two things are the main reasons why the Sunda Strait coastal tourism sector is in a crisis, and it is still hard to get out of a crisis like this. Disaster management was shown to have a big, positive effect on the crisis, the way resources are used, and the number of tourists who visit. Tourist visits had a significant impact on dynamic agility orchestration resources and coastal tourism recovery. Also, the tourism crisis helped the coastal tourism industry get back on its feet in a big way. The tourism crisis and coastal tourism recovery benefited significantly from dynamic agility orchestration resources.