scholarly journals An Exploratory Study of Consumers’ Travel-Related Concerns About COVID-19

Author(s):  
Wenqi Wei ◽  
Irem Önder

AbstractThis study explores consumers’ travel-related concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic via YouTube comments. Drawing on the risk perception theory and adopting a Markov Chain approach, this study demonstrates the topics that consumers discussed and empirically illustrates perceived risk in the tourism and hospitality industry via sentiment analysis across four sectors: recreation and entertainment, accommodation, transportation, and food and beverages. Results indicate discussion regarding travel-related videos is not only limited to travel-related topics but also includes a broad perspective of social, political, and historical topics. For instance, hotels have a new function as quarantine facilities with effective disease control procedures and social responsibility for public health. Additionally, health, performance, financial, social, and psychological risks are identified. Whereas the presence of travelers is typically regarded as positive, travelers during the crisis are regarded as “irresponsible” and “selfish” individuals who spread the virus and endanger public health. This shift of perception calls for both the industry and academia at large to educate people about the importance of disease control and rebuild travelers’ image and reputation. Recommendations to reduce the perceived risk in each sector are also provided.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Wen ◽  
Metin Kozak ◽  
Shaohua Yang ◽  
Fang Liu

Purpose The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is projected to have adverse consequences on the global tourism and hospitality industry. This paper aims to examine how the outbreak may alter Chinese tourists’ lifestyle choices, travel behaviour and tourism preferences in the short and long term. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on the synthesis of news broadcasted by several media outlets to be supported by an overview of the related literature on tourism marketing, tourism management and tourist behaviour. The authors’ experiences investigating trends in tourism and hospitality at the local and international level have also contributed to the study. Findings This paper predicts that COVID-19 will likely affect Chinese travellers’ consumption patterns, such as the growing popularity of free and independent travel, luxury trips and health and wellness tourism. New forms of tourism including slow tourism and smart tourism may also drive future tourism activities. Such changes are likely to force businesses to reconsider their service designs and distribution channels. Research limitations/implications While Chinese and other potential visitors rethink how they travel, professionals, too, should reflect upon how to bring positive or negative changes to the tourism industry following this pandemic. Subsequent research should also consider how to mitigate the effects of similar public health crises in the future. Practical implications Recommendations for industry practitioners and policymakers focus on tailoring travel arrangements to tourists’ backgrounds. The suggestions may help to alleviate outbreak-related stress, offer travellers newly enriching experiences and partially mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on the tourism and hospitality industry. These recommendations can also apply more broadly to global tourist markets. Social implications The COVID-19 outbreak has already brought significant impacts to nearly every society and industry. Tourism scholars and practitioners should carefully consider this tragedy and how it may inform industry and social practices. This and other public health crises represent sterling opportunities to view the industry holistically in terms of its effects on the environment, climate and travellers themselves. Originality/value This paper presumably represents a frontier study, critically examining the possible impacts of COVID-19 on Chinese travellers’ consumption patterns and how the tourism and hospitality industry may respond to such changes in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Wen ◽  
Haifeng Hou ◽  
Metin Kozak ◽  
Fang Meng ◽  
Chung-En Yu ◽  
...  

PurposeAs the world grapples with the pervasive effects of the coronavirus pandemic, a notable disconnect has emerged in the public's understanding of scientific and medical research. Particularly, the travel industry has become unquestionably vulnerable amid the COVID-19 outbreak; this pandemic has interrupted the industry's operations with devastating economic consequences. This paper aims to highlight the importance of deconstructing barriers between medical science and public awareness related to COVID-19, taking tourism as a case in point. It also discusses the role of interdisciplinary research in facilitating the tourism and hospitality industry's recovery and alleviating tourists' uncertainties in the wake of COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThis paper offers a synthesis of news coverage from several media outlets, framed within the literature on knowledge transformation across disciplines. This framing focuses on the medical sciences (e.g. public health) and social sciences (e.g. tourism management) to identify gaps between medical scientific knowledge and public awareness in the context of COVID-19. The authors' experience in public health and tourism management further demonstrates a missing link between academic research and the information made available in public health and everyday settings. A potential research agenda is proposed accordingly.FindingsThis paper summarizes how salient issues related to knowledge transfer can become intensified during a global pandemic, such as medical research not being communicated in plain language, which leads some citizens to feel apathetic about findings. Reporting on the prevalence and anticipated consequences of disease outbreaks can hence be difficult, especially early in the development of diseases such as COVID-19.Research limitations/implicationsBy assuming a cross-disciplinary perspective on medical/health and social science research, this paper encourages academic and practical collaboration to bring medical research to the masses. This paper also outlines several research directions to promote public health, safety and sustainability through tourism.Practical implicationsThis paper highlights that it is essential for medical knowledge to be disseminated in a manner that promotes public understanding. The tourism and hospitality industry can benefit from an essential understanding of medical findings, particularly during this pandemic. Without a firm grasp on COVID-19's origins and treatment, the tourism and hospitality industry will likely struggle to recover from this catastrophe.Social implicationsTaking COVID-19 as a case in point, this study advocates leveraging the strengths of disparate domains to bring medical findings to a wider audience and showcase cutting-edge developments for the greater good. This study also emphasizes the importance of engaging the general public in reputable scientific research findings to increase public awareness in a professional and accurate manner.Originality/valueThis paper presents a unique and critical discussion of the gap between medical science knowledge and public awareness, as well as its implications for tourism and hospitality recovery after COVID-19, with a focus on applying medical scientific knowledge to post-pandemic industry recovery.


Author(s):  
Shriya Das Mahapatra ◽  
R. K. Patra

It has already been known that recent past tourism depends consistently on hospitality. The present study was aiming to identify the tourism and hospitality industry relationship on the basis of annual income, duration and stay types, tenure of tour, an analysis based survey among local people of Kolkata, India. The survey was done through a questionnaire, which was assessed through random sampling of 200 residents of urban city. The results indicated that lower the income groups but highest duration of stay but tenure of tour may be more than twice per year. In conclusion, people of Kolkata fond of tour because of suitable hospitality management in the tourist spots. Therefore, tourism and hospitality has a close relationship to enhance growth for revenue generation, employment generation, etc.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
Gergely Olt ◽  
Adrienne Csizmady

AbstractThe growth of the tourism and hospitality industry played an important role in the gentrification of the post-socialist city of Budapest. Although disinvestment was present, reinvestment was moderate for decades after 1989. Privatisation of individual tenancies and the consequent fragmented ownership structure of heritage buildings made refurbishment and reinvestment less profitable. Because of local contextual factors and global changes in consumption habits, the function of the dilapidated 19th century housing stock transformed in the 2000s, and the residential neighbourhood which was the subject of the research turned into the so called ‘party district’. The process was followed in our ongoing field research. The functional change made possible speculative investment in inner city housing and played a major role in the commodification of the disinvested housing stock.


Author(s):  
Joshua M. Sharfstein

An effective communications approach starts with a basic dictum set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Be first, be right, be credible.” Agencies must establish themselves as vital sources of accurate information to maintain the public’s trust. At the same time, public health officials must recognize that communications play out in the context of ideological debates, electoral rivalries, and other political considerations. During a public health crisis, this means that health officials often need to constructively engage political leaders in communications and management. Navigating these waters in the middle of a crisis can be treacherous. Figuring out the best way to engage elected leaders is a core aspect of political judgment.


Author(s):  
Christopher Hilliard

The chapter surveys post-First World War Littlehampton, a coastal town where tourism and hospitality had overtaken maritime trade, but where coastal shipping and ship-building remained important industries. The libel case unfolded in the Beach Town district, where Littlehampton’s hotels and apartment houses were concentrated. Many of the tradesmen, small businesswomen, labourers, and domestics who serviced the tourism and hospitality industry lived in the neighbourhood. Working from the evidence George Nicholls gathered, census records, and documents in the Littlehampton Museum, the chapter provides an anatomy of the neighbourhood and then examines the families at the centre of the dispute, their economic and social position, and relationships within the household, which were often marked by violence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Grobelna

AbstractThe recent rapid growth of the tourism and hospitality industries raises a question about the quantity and quality of the workforce needed in these sectors. In the tourism/hospitality industry, where most services are delivered directly by employees, competitive advantage is primarily attained through people (employees), who are perceived as an integral component of tourism experience. This creates challenges for an industry suffering from high rates of staff turnover, especially of young employees who leave their jobs after graduation, choosing other career paths.This study presents the job related motivators that students found important when considering their future careers, and investigates the extent to which those motivators can be found in the tourism and hospitality industry. Is the industry able to offer the motivators that will keep the employees willing to choose this particular path? We focus on two groups of potential employees – Polish and Spanish students. The study reveals that both groups generally do not believe that a career in the TH industry offered these motivating factors. We also contrast and compare both groups’ perceptions in this area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6581
Author(s):  
Jooyoung Hwang ◽  
Anita Eves ◽  
Jason L. Stienmetz

Travellers have high standards and regard restaurants as important travel attributes. In the tourism and hospitality industry, the use of developed tools (e.g., smartphones and location-based tablets) has been popularised as a way for travellers to easily search for information and to book venues. Qualitative research using semi-structured interviews based on the face-to-face approach was adopted for this study to examine how consumers’ restaurant selection processes are performed with the utilisation of social media on smartphones. Then, thematic analysis was adopted. The findings of this research show that the adoption of social media on smartphones is positively related with consumers’ gratification. More specifically, when consumers regard that process, content and social gratification are satisfied, their intention to adopt social media is fulfilled. It is suggested by this study that consumers’ restaurant decision-making process needs to be understood, as each stage of the decision-making process is not independent; all the stages of the restaurant selection process are organically connected and influence one another.


Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 275
Author(s):  
Gabriella Di Giuseppe ◽  
Concetta Paola Pelullo ◽  
Giorgia Della Polla ◽  
Maria Pavia ◽  
Italo Francesco Angelillo

Understanding whether members of the university population are willing to receive a future vaccination against COVID-19 and identifying barriers may help public health authorities to develop effective strategies and interventions to contain COVID-19. This cross-sectional study explored the willingness to accept a future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in a university population in Southern Italy. The perceived risk level of developing COVID-19 was 6.5 and it was significantly higher among females, younger subjects, and those who agreed/strongly agreed that COVID-19 is a severe disease. Only 21.4% of respondents were not worried at all regarding the safety of the vaccine. Males, not being married/cohabitant, being a faculty member, those who perceived a lower risk of developing COVID-19, and those who did not need information regarding the vaccination against COVID-19 were significantly more likely to have no concern at all regarding the safety of the vaccine. The vast majority (84.1%) were willing to receive a future vaccine against COVID-19. Almost coherently with predictors of concern on the safety of the vaccine, being male, not being married/cohabitant, being a faculty member, not being concerned at all that COVID-19 vaccination might not be safe, and agreeing that COVID-19 can have serious health consequences were significant predictors of the willingness to receive the vaccine against COVID-19. A considerable proportion of the population had a positive willingness to receive the future COVID-19 vaccine, although some concerns have been expressed regarding the effectiveness and safety and public health activities seem necessary to achieve the rate that can lead to the protection of the community.


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