Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and its potential influence on tourist behaviour in the short- to medium-term. While the influence of the pandemic on tourist’s perceived risk and its impact on their future travel behaviour is understandably yet to be established, the present paper discusses the potential nexus. Additionally, this paper provides tourism practitioners with some recommendations for mitigating the effect of potential heightened perceived risk on travel and tourism decision-making post the COVID-19 crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
The present paper synthesises contemporary academic literature on perceived risk and post-crisis tourism with emerging information associated with the unfolding COVID-19 crisis.
Findings
This paper draws empirical evidence from studies related to previous health crises and their impact on tourism, as well as tourist behaviour. By discussing previous studies within the context of the on-going COVID-19, it is possible to anticipate the influence that perceived risk associated with the pandemic may have on the post-crisis behaviour of tourists. Also, short-term measures to mitigate the effects of risk on tourism are posited to guide practitioners in the future recovery of the sector.
Research limitations/implications
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented and on-going crisis for the global tourism industry. Hence, the present paper serves as a primer to a broader discussion within the tourism discourse and provides theoretical direction for future tourism research.
Practical implications
Key to the recovery of the global tourism industry will be encouraging both domestic and international tourism activity. However, while the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on tourist behaviour is yet to be substantiated, previous research predicts a situation of heightened perceived risk and the potential cognitive dissonance that may negatively influence tourist decision-making. To mitigate this potential effect, governance, augmented immigration policy, destination media profiling, recovery marketing and domestic tourism will be critical interventions.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the first to discuss the potential influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the post-crisis decision-making process of tourists and their conative behaviour. As a primer to further empirical research, this paper sets a pertinent research agenda for academic inquiry within an evolving and increasingly uncertain global tourism market.
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the risk associated with tourism and induced a paradigm shift in tourist behaviour. The study explores the nexus between COVID-19 induced perceived risk the subjective safety associated with tourism activity. A cross-sectional deductive study was conducted. Data were generated from a respondent-driven snowball sample of 323 potential tourists from all over the world. The key findings indicate perceived physical, psychological and social COVID-19 pandemic induced risk negatively influenced the overall subjective safety associated with tourism activity. Moreover, further analysis indicated heterogeneity in the influence of the perceived risk on specific tourism activity. Tourism practitioners are provided with timely empirical evidence-based insights that contribute to a better understanding of tourists' evolving behaviour.
This study investigated the potential utilisation of nation branding as a government driven investment promotion approach aimed at attracting foreign direct investment to Zimbabwe. This study used both primary and secondary data. A desk research was conducted to collect secondary data from academic publications and journals, while qualitative primary data collection was semi-structured in nature, utilising an interview schedule to conduct in-depth elite interviews. These interviews were recorded for post interview verbatim transcription. A combination of non-probability sampling techniques were used to establish the final sample frame of 9 key informants for the study from a universal population of 11 investment promotion related organisations in Zimbabwe. The study employed the hermeneutic approach to data analysis to analyse the empirical qualitative data generated from the interviewing process. As a result of this study it emerged that subjectively, the negative image that Zimbabwe has as a country and as an investment destination has a causal effect on the ability of the country to attract foreign direct investment. It also emerged that key stakeholders in Zimbabwe perceive nation branding as a panacea to the image-related challenges of investment promotion for Zimbabwe.
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