COVID-19 pandemic and tourism: The impact of health risk perception and intolerance of uncertainty on travel intentions

Abstract

Understanding tourist behavior during and after major tourism crises is essential to help destinations recover. The COVID-19 pandemic — a period of uncertainty and risk — makes it relevant to assess factors that influence travel intentions. There has been little research on tourist behavior during health crises and, in particular, on perceived health risk and uncertainty effects on travel intentions. This study was carried out at the beginning of the pandemic in Brazil and aims to investigate the role of health risk perception and intolerance of uncertainty on travel intentions for 2020 and 2021. We applied an online survey to 1150 Brazilian participants from April to May 2020. Our findings indicate that perceived COVID-19 severity, perceived probability of infection, and expected duration of the pandemic are significant predictors of travel intentions for both years. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of crisis-resistant tourists’ characteristics and provides insights for destinations’ recovery.

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

“…Hence, the present study provided empirical evidence to support recent studies that highlight a negative relationship between the perceived health risk of COVID-19 and tourists' revisiting intentions [119,120]. Similarly, the findings also complement recent tourism studies that have manifested perceived health risks as a major concern for travelers regarding the revisiting of their preferred destinations during the pandemic [121,122].…”

“…The present study advances the tourism literature with a novel theoretical framework and sheds light on tourists' cognitive evaluation of destinations that are deemed to be under crisis [13,23]. Importantly, the present study introduces the theory of planned behavior and protection motivation theory to tourism literature by presenting a novel model that conceptualizes the most recent trends and challenges in global tourism (i.e., CBDS, travel shaming, redesigned travel incentives and vaxication) [4,119,122,123]. Drawing upon the protection motivation theory, the study findings suggest that those destinations promoting themselves as COVID-19 free can positively attract more visitors [16].…”

“…For example, the impact of tourism incentives and travel shaming on vaxication intention could be further assessed based on the heuristic systematic model and cognitive response theories [105], which can contribute to the scholarly understanding of post-pandemic tourist behavior. Therefore, it is also advised that future studies take advantage of persuasive theories of emotion and communication in order to better understand and take advantage of travelers' changing intentions through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic [122].…”

Pointers to Interventions for Promoting COVID-19 Protective Measures in Tourism: A Modelling Approach Using Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale, Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Health Belief Model

“…There is vast literature on how individual tourists’ risk perceptions associated with COVID-19 affect their travel intentions and behaviour (e.g., Abraham et al, 2020 ; Agyeiwaah et al, 2021 ; Chua et al, 2021 ; Golets et al, 2021 ; Kim et al, 2021 ; Meng et al, 2021 ; Neuburger and Egger, 2021 ; Rather, 2021a , b ; O’Connor and Assaker, 2022 ; Wu and Lau, 2022 ). A few authors have applied the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to capture risk perceptions of the COVID-19 situation and their impact on tourists’ intentional behavioural outcomes ( Bae and Chang, 2020 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2021 ; Sánchez-Cañizares et al, 2021 ; Seong and Hong, 2021 ; Sujood and Bano, 2021 ).…”

“… Bratić et al (2021 , p. 10) state that the revival of tourism requires “behaviour specific strategies to reduce behaviour specific travel anxiety.” As a consequence, the pandemic has increased the need for research on intervention designs to promote COVID-19 protective measures in tourism ( WHO, 2021 ). In particular, the massive reduction in tourist arrivals worldwide ( UNWTO, 2021 ), including in Switzerland ( Georgi et al, 2020 ; STV, 2020 ; TCS, 2021 ), due to the pandemic has given a tremendous boost to tourism research focusing on tourists’ decision-making and perceptions of risk (e.g., Abraham et al, 2020 ; Bae and Chang, 2020 ; Agyeiwaah et al, 2021 ; Bratić et al, 2021 ; Golets et al, 2021 ; Neuburger and Egger, 2021 ; Pappas, 2021 ).…”