Determinants of Tourist Behavior Post Covid-19 and Their Implications on Future Tourism Intentions

Abstract

Tourism has faced several major health crises in recent decades, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several researchers have investigated how the crisis affected the tourism industry. Health crises such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have been regarded as a temporary tourism crisis, having a significant impact on China's and ASEAN's tourism industries (Tran et al., 2020). Aside from SARS, avian influenza has had a significant impact on tourist arrivals in Asia (Kuo et al., 2009). Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) has also been shown in studies to have a negative impact on tourism demand in the European region (Blake et al., 2003). Previous research has focused on dengue fever, Ebola, yellow fever, and malaria outbreaks, with an emphasis on the negative impact on tourist arrivals in affected countries (Novelli et al., 2018; Oduber et al., 2014; Rossello et al., 2017). During this health crisis, changes in tourist behaviour are expected to decrease. Because the COVID-19 pandemic is still in its early stages, there is a need to investigate how travellers behave in response to the pandemic and how it will affect their travel behaviour. Based on these considerations, this study seeks to investigate tourist behaviour following the Covid-19 pandemic and its implications for future travel intentions. In predicting personal behaviour principles, this study employs Ajzen's TPB (1985) concept. The TPB was founded on the theory of rational action (TRA) and included additional predictors such as perceived behavioural control and subjective attitudes and norms. As a result, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control are well-established predictors of behavioural intention. Because TPB has been widely used in fields such as psychology, marketing, and tourism, to name a few, other researchers have attempted to incorporate risk predictors into models in order to increase their explanatory power (Han et al., 2010). Keywords: Telemedicine, Perceived Usability, Visual Appearance, Reputation, Trust