Interpreting emotional insights and behavioral intentions of travelers based on push and pull motivations during Covid-19

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to interpret the travel motivations of travelers in India amidst the coronavirus pandemic. It takes into consideration the “push and pull motivational forces” of travelers, translating their emotional insights and behavioral intentions based on these forces.Design/methodology/approachThe research design consists of a mixed-mode approach of study inclusive of semi-directive interviews of 231 participants from India. The statistical computing language R has been used to conduct sentiment analysis.FindingsThe results obtained show that “fear” and “sadness” are the prevalent emotions among the travelers due to the coronavirus outbreak based on the results of sentiment analysis. While, positive emotions of “trust” and “joy” were missing comparatively. These emotions along with other traveling constraints amidst coronavirus acted as the intrinsic push factors and extrinsic pull factors affecting their travel motivations.Originality/valueThe study throws light on the practical and theoretical implications of such travel motivations, emotions affecting these motivations, leading to travelers' behavioral intentions. The work adds to the limited works of tourism literature amidst the coronavirus outbreak.

The destination marketing and media profile – travel motives nexus amid tourism crisis: the mediating effect of the nation brand

“…The push–pull framework (PPF - Crompton, 1979; Dann, 1977) is a seminal explanatory framework in travel motivation theory. The PPF delineates the susceptibility of tourists to intrinsic psychological forces that motivate or “push” tourists to engage in travel and tourism activity and the specific attractions, features and attributes (extrinsic factors) that subsequently attract or “pull” tourists to visit specific destinations (Pattanayak et al , 2022). It follows that, while destination marketing may trigger the intrinsic desire of tourists to travel, the competitive positioning of tourism destinations principally influences the extrinsic “pull” travel motives of tourists.…”