Tourist and Viral Mobilities Intertwined: Clustering COVID-19-Driven Travel Behaviour of Rural Tourists in South Tyrol, Italy

Abstract

Travel patterns have dramatically changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism has been both a vector and a victim of the disease. This paper explores the pandemic’s impact on rural tourism, using the theoretical framework of the “mobilities turn” to investigate issues of corporeal and communicative travel found between the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 874 guests visiting the Italian region of South Tyrol, where rural tourism is the norm, identified different patterns of physical travel and approaches to collecting on-site information on COVID-19. Results from a principal component analysis (PCA) and a cluster analysis highlighted at least two different approaches from visitors to the region: the first is more cautious, mostly practiced by domestic tourists, with limited mobility on-site, coupled with a need for information; the second is instead a more adventurous approach, with higher on-site mobility, more use of sustainable forms of transport and less interest in data evidence on COVID-19. Implications for rural tourism and its future are discussed. The hypothesis of an inverse relationship between corporeal and communicative travel needs further exploration in future research.

Will COVID-19 Boost Sustainable Tourism: Wishful Thinking or Reality?

“…All three groups shared a certain preference for domestic destinations as well as outdoor and "undercrowded" tourism attractions as main factors for destination choice. Similarly, Scuttari et al [28] found two clusters, with one being more cautious, while members of the other cluster show less concern and move around freely. Lebrun et al [26] found intentions of French people to travel closer to home in summer 2020 and showed generational differences.…”

“…Pardo and Ladeiras [20] Reflection by tourism agents of pandemic and future ERP 20 December O'Connor and Assaker [21] Effects on future pro-environmental traveler behavior ERP/TRP 21 January Miao et al [22] Post-COVID-19 travel behavior TRP 21 May Kane et al [23] Behavioral change of social distancing at the beach ERP 21 May Ram et al [24] Vaccination effect on share of domestic/international traveling ERP 21 July Van Wee and Witlox [25] Possible long-term effects of COVID-19 on activity/travel behavior TRP 21 July Lebrun et al [26] Travel intention of French consumers for summer 2020 ERP 21 July Del Chiappa et al [27] Uncovering knowledge on travel behavior during COVID-19 ERP 21 August Scuttari et al [28] Clusters of COVID-19-driven travel behavior ERP 21 October Park et al [29] Travelers' preference for crowded vs. non-crowded options ERP 21 December E = essay, ERP = empirical research paper, and TRP = theoretical research paper.…”

Systemic analysis of a manufacturing process based on a small scale bakery

“…Nonetheless, this concept was previously applied especially in technical sciences to solve problems. For instance, vector methods were applied in: nanostructure analysis (Zhao et al 2021 ), forecasting in the energy sector (Yousaf et al 2021 ; Aslam et al 2021 ], e-business modelling (Sun et al 2021 ), machine learning (Shahpouri et al 2021 ), or issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic (Alghazzawi et al 2021 ; Scuttari et al 2021 ; Ting et al 2020 ).…”

Problematizing tourism for conservation: An eco-cultural critique on sustainability

“…Moreover, shaping "environment," "nature," "wilderness" or "biodiversity" as a "common good" and placing a value on "natural capital" has come to be gradually more noticeable in global political debates since the 1980s (Streimikiene et al, 2021;Costanza et al, 1997, 253-260;Van Koppen, 2000, 300-318). There is a long-lasting argument about how to associate nature conservation with poverty reduction and tourism development in local communities (Adams et al, 2004(Adams et al, , 1146(Adams et al, -1149Scuttari et al, 2021;Wells and McShane, 2004, 513-519). The community conservation policies and actions are frequently shaped as "win-win" prospects with environmental and socio-economic gains (Chaigneau and Brown, 2016, 36).…”

“…In fact, sustainable tourism now "represents an unstable paradigm, its meaning contested between interested social actors such as the tourist companies, advertisers, environmental pressure groups, local communities and, last but not least, consumers" (Ponton and Asero, 2018, 45-62). In an increasing number of cases, it is observed that tourism provides an insufficient supply of capital for conservation and supports local communities as well as an economic stimulation to take care of natural resource (Scuttari et al, 2021;Streimikiene et al, 2021). The connection between tourism and biodiversity is not always optimistic, especially while tourism development takes place with a lack of proper management structures and policies in order to foster nature conservation and distribute visible profits to local communities.…”