Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the associations among hotel website quality, telepresence, websites’ utilitarian and hedonic performance and customers’ behavioral intentions. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was used to collect the data from 683 respondents. Data was analyzed by using the two-stage modeling technique through Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings Findings indicate a significantly positive impact of hotel website quality on telepresence, utilitarian and hedonic performance. In addition, telepresence has a significantly positive impact on utilitarian and hedonic performance. Finally, telepresence, utilitarian and hedonic performance have a significantly positive impact on customers’ behavioral intentions. Research limitations/implications Based on the findings of this study, theoretical and practical implications for hospitality and tourism researchers are provided. Originality/value This study is one of the very few studies integrating hotel website quality scale to examine the hotel website features that influence telepresence and perceived utilitarian and hedonic performance leading to positive behavioral intentions.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, the global tourism industry has taken a severe hit. To fully understand the impact of the pandemic on tourists’ travel behavior, an intercultural survey was carried out through a large-scale online questionnaire. This survey aims to determine whether cultural differences and different ages might play a role in tourists’ behavior during the COVID-19. Data collected from 942 respondents from mainland China and overseas through different age groups were subjected to data analysis. The results demonstrate cognition and consumer behavior differentiate culturally and significantly between different ages, which is highlighted when they choose travel modes, transportation, and companions. The implications of the study are also provided in the end.

COVID-19, as a rampant health crisis, lies at the basis of fluctuating perceptions affecting decreased demand among travelers. Recent studies have witnessed a growth of interest in the interactions between tourists’ behaviors and other factors with the potential to moderate such behavior during travel. However, it remains to be discussed whether the influence of demographic aspects, especially cultural and gender differences, on tourism behaviors will be more prominent during COVID-19. The current empirical research aims to integrate demographic variables, including gender and culture, with tourists’ behavior in terms of their choice of companions, travel destinations, and mode of transportation. According to the research findings, people in other countries have greater desire to travel than Chinese tourists who, in any case, prefer to travel with friends. Tourists from other countries are more willing to travel by plane and by car. Males show a more positive attitude than females to these means of transportation. Moreover, the interactive effect of gender and nationality reveals that female travelers from mainland China put the train or bus top on their agenda. These theoretical findings have the potential to provide actionable insights into how policymakers and service providers can make adjustments to bring back tourism stifled by COVID-19.

Earlier studies have shown that conceptually supportive context is an important factor in the comprehension of metaphors (Inhoff, Lima, & Carroll, 1984; Ortony, Schallert, Reynolds, & Antos, 1978). However, little empirical evidence has been found so far regarding contextual effects on metonymy processing (Lowder & Gordon, 2013). Implementing an eye-tracking experiment with Chinese materials, this present paper investigated whether and how preceding contextual information affects the processing of metonymy. The results show that for unfamiliar metonymies, it takes readers longer time to interpret unfamiliar metonymies than to literally interpret them given a shorter context. However, the processing disparity between metonymic comprehension and literal comprehension disappears when longer supportive information is available in the preceding context. These results are analogous to those found for metaphors and familiar metonymies, supporting the parallel model of language processing. In addition, our results suggest that the presence of supportive preceding context facilitates the processing of unfamiliar metonymies more than it does to the literal controls.

This study examined consumers' psychological reactance, which is insufficiently explored in the literature. This research fills the gaps found in the literature reviewed and investigates how the psychological reactance of restaurant consumers developed because of social, temporal, and spatial distancing measures during COVID-19. This study also explored ways in which the restaurant industry can increase its compliance with COVID-19 restrictions in such a situation. We explored the effects of social, temporal, and spatial distancing on psychological reactance. We also identified the moderating effect of lockdown restrictions, which strengthen the psychological reactance developed because of (a) social distancing, (b) temporal distancing, and (c) spatial distancing. We collected data from restaurant consumers in Lahore. This study applied quantitative techniques (i.e., a test of normality, measurement model assessment, structural model assessment, and common method variance). The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 25 and AMOS 24 and the results were interpreted and presented accordingly. This study added to the literature on psychological reactance, service management, and psychological distance. We could also help the restaurant industry overcome the challenges that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and the closures. This study could assist the restaurant industry to understand consumer behavior and attract potential consumers.