Can Post-Vaccine ‘Vaxication’ Rejuvenate Global Tourism? Nexus between COVID-19 Branded Destination Safety, Travel Shaming, Incentives and the Rise of Vaxication Travel

Abstract

Vaxication (i.e., post-vaccination travel) and branding destinations for COVID-19 safety have emerged as the cornerstones to fully rebound global tourism. Numerous destination brands are now stimulating tourism demand through realigned travel incentives specifically for fully vaccinated travelers. However, there is growing fear and incidents of travel shaming across destinations, especially due to the recent outbreaks of the highly contagious COVID-19 ‘delta and omicron’ variants. Addressing this critical research gap, the present study makes pioneering efforts to empirically examine the effects of COVID-19 branded destination safety (CBDS) on vaxication intentions, under the moderating influence of travel shaming and travel incentives. Drawing on study data from 560 fully-vaccinated residents from Hawaii, United States and structural equation modeling (SEM) with Mplus, the evidence suggests that the positive impact of CBDS on vaxication intention can be further strengthened by travel incentives, or weakened when travel shaming picks up more momentum. Besides the validation of newly developed scales, the study offers strategic insights based on dominant theories (e.g., theory of planned behavior and protection motivation theory) to interpret the changing tourism demand, and to transform the emerging challenges into opportunities through and beyond the pandemic.

The Bridge at the End of the World: Linking Expat’s Pandemic Fatigue, Travel FOMO, Destination Crisis Marketing, and Vaxication for “Greatest of All Trips”

“…However, travel closure has left emotionally exhausted and fatigued individuals with no obvious choices to escape the lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic. As soon as the COVID-19 vaccines became a reality (e.g., the arrival of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna vaccines), the idea of relaxing travel restrictions (subject to COVID-19 vaccination) became more viable [8,9], hence signaling a beacon of hope to kickstart global travel.…”

“…Fully vaccinated travelers are expected to face lesser barriers (e.g., facilitated and/or smooth entry at host destinations) as compared to unvaccinated (or partially vaccinated) travelers, who are obligated to undergo mandatory quarantines and have a negative PCR COVID-19 test [8][9][10]. These explicit conditions gave birth to a new phenomenon of "vaxication" ("vaxi-" from "vaccination" and "-cation" from "vacation") [9,10]. Vaxication (referred to as the first vacation after vaccination) also commemorates special offers and incentives from tourism destinations to fully vaccinated travelers [9].…”

“…These explicit conditions gave birth to a new phenomenon of "vaxication" ("vaxi-" from "vaccination" and "-cation" from "vacation") [9,10]. Vaxication (referred to as the first vacation after vaccination) also commemorates special offers and incentives from tourism destinations to fully vaccinated travelers [9]. Consequently, individuals experiencing pandemic fatigue are incited to get fully vaccinated to resurrect their long-awaited travel.…”

“…Consequently, individuals experiencing pandemic fatigue are incited to get fully vaccinated to resurrect their long-awaited travel. The emerging vaxication trend in response to the pandemic fatigue indicates a possible connection between the two tenets of tourism under (and after) COVID-19 [3,9]. Travel planners are stimulated to deploy crisis marketing campaigns using vaccine and vacation advertising bundles to encourage immunization among wishful travelers [10,11].…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has not reached its endgame yet, whereas the global vaxication drive is still on the move. Hence, the influential role (and repercussions) of touristic behaviors toward vaxication requires immediate scholarly attention [9]. Vaxication has emerged as a promising touristic behavior with the ability to resurrect global tourism by ensuring the required healthcare and protective measures (e.g., vaccine passports) to visit a preferred destination [12,13].…”