On the choice of accommodation type at the time of Covid-19. Some evidence from the Italian tourism sector

Abstract

This note focuses on the impact of coronavirus on Italian tourism. Using a sample of 1056 travellers, we find a positive relationship between the security of destination and the probability to accommodate in hotels and B&B. Furthermore, regional contagion is negatively associated to the willingness to pay for accommodation services. The policy implications are twofold. Firstly, hotels/B&B claim for financial support to ensure social distancing and, thus, security that will attract tourists. Secondly, public finance could sustain the demand of tourist services in hotels and B&B which is lowering because of coronavirus.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Tourism Industry: Applying TRIZ and DEMATEL to Construct a Decision-Making Model

“…In the Spanish hospitality industry, economic and tourism activities are generating an economic crisis [72]. In Italy, hotels and bed and breakfasts require financial support [73]. In India, the discussion database papers analyzed the hospitality industry during the pandemic; the first three themes were the recovery of the hospitality industry, market demand and the loss of revenue [74].…”

Uncovering knowledge on travel behaviour during COVID-19: a convergent parallel mixed-methods study in the context of Italy

“…In this regard, it should be noted that the data also shows that some of the people within this cluster tended to travel to less crowded destinations in which they might have practiced outdoor activities; hence, their complete avoidance might be related to the type of travel these people are used to experiencing. In other words, they might have reported no changes to their holiday habits due to the fact that travelling to less crowded places was already one of their travel habits, even before the pandemic, hence their perception of risks due to travelling was low and they believed themselves to be less vulnerable compared to tourists travelling to more crowded destinations (Aiello et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Similar findings were reported in a study on a sample of Chinese respondents, who preferred to travel only a short distance to their destinations ( Zheng et al, 2021a ). Other pieces of research focusing on understanding tourists’ choices with regards to destinations found that tourists preferred to travel domestically, favouring proximity tourism to destinations less affected by COVID-19, and to places that were less crowded (Aiello, Bonanno, and Foglia, 2020 ), easily accessible (e.g., Lew et al, 2020 ), already known (Kock et al, 2020 ), and where well-established infrastructures and high-quality medical facilities were available (e.g., Wen et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, recent studies reported tourists choosing destinations allowing them to practice mountain tourism, second-home tourism, and outdoor tourism (Seraphin & Dosquet, 2020 ).…”

“…With regards to the types of services chosen by tourists, it was found that the likelihood of a tourist choosing a hotel or B&B depended on the importance that he/she placed on security (the higher the importance, the more likely it was that the tourist would choose to stay in a hotel or a B&B) and the place of residence (tourists from highly affected areas would be less likely to go to hotels or B&Bs) (Aiello et al, 2020 ). Existing literature also showed that, during this pandemic, individuals have tended to use more private cars when compared to other means of transport (e.g., planes: Perić, Dramićanin and Conić, 2020 ), especially when travelling for relatively short distances (e.g., Abdullah et al, 2020 ).…”

Covid-19 sürecinde tüketicilerin otel seçimini etkileyen faktörler

“…Tesislerdeki insan yoğunluğuna göre kişisel tedbirlerini alacak olan tüketiciler maske, mesafe ve temizlik kuralları gereği kalabalıktan uzak durmaya, havuz yerine denizi tercih etmeye, sürekli tesis içinde kalmamaya çalışacaktır. Yapılan araştırmalarda tüketicilerin pandemi sürecinde deniz temelli tatil tercihlerinde sağlık ve güvenlik açısından havuz, sauna, hamam gibi yerleri pek kullanmadıkları (Bhakat, 2020;Budd & Ison, 2020) bunun yerine daha çok denizi tercih ettikleri ortaya çıkmış ve hatta her gün için oda temizliği istemedikleri (Awan, Shamim & Ahn, 2020;Bagnera, Stewart & Edition, 2020;Rosemberg, 2020), daha çok oda+kahvaltı tatil (Aiello, Bonanno & Foglia, 2020;Hofmeyr, 2020;Rosenthal vd., 2020) konseptini tercih ettikleri belirtilmiştir. Oluşan kaygı ve endişe nedeniyle diğer insanlardan mümkün olduğunca uzak durma eğiliminde olan tüketicilerin tatil zamanlarını daha çok tesis dışında geçirme düşüncesine sahip olduğu anlaşılmaktadır.…”