The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on tourists’ personal prestige – an experimental study

Purpose The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has drastically affected the public discourse on tourism in news reporting and on social media, potentially changing social perceptions of travel and its utility for conspicuous consumption. Prestige enhancement is a common tourist motivation, yet, as tourists have been portrayed as irresponsible and even dangerous during the pandemic, the benefits of travel for personal prestige may have been affected. The purpose of this study is to monitor changes in tourists’ personal prestige during the early pandemic in 2020. Design/methodology/approach The authors developed an innovative study design implicitly measuring the personal prestige of tourists shown on experimentally manipulated social media posts. Three measurement waves were issued to compare the personal prestige of tourists just before, during and after the first lockdown situation in Germany. Findings Differences regarding evaluations of tourists’ prestige were found for prestige dimensions of hedonism, achievements, wealth and power, suggesting that prestige ascription to tourists has been affected by the changing discourse on leisure travel. Originality/value This study contributes to the discussion of the socio-psychological effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on customer benefits of leisure travel. It exposes possible impacts of the pandemic on tourisms’ value for conspicuous consumption and prestige enhancement.

Reconfiguring Aviation for a Climate-Safe Future: Are Airlines Sending the Wrong Message?

Aviation remains a problematic sector of the global economy in times of climate emergency. Grounded in the ideology of reconfiguration, we adopt a system transitions perspective to address high emissions leisure travel. Our focus falls on the marketing communications of airlines as a critical component in the prevailing sociotechnical regime. Thematic analysis of the e-mail marketing communications of selected airlines revealed three prominent tropes: adventure and discovery; privilege; and urgency. These communications bring air travel into the everyday lives of consumers and accelerate the turnover time of tourist consumption. Time is mobilized to create a sense of resource scarcity and urgency to consume, paradoxically in a situation characterized by oversupply. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a unique opportunity for structural reform of the airline industry. Component substitution to address airline marketing is required as an important step toward overcoming consumer moral disengagement and reconfiguring the airline industry.

Household level heterogeneity in the income elasticities of demand for international leisure travel

This article deepens the understanding of household level heterogeneity of income elasticities of demand for international leisure travel. This is done through the use of Swedish household level expenditure data which together with censored quantile regression allows for estimation of income elasticities based on relative consumption levels. In addition, an analysis of how the distribution of income elasticities was affected by the 2008 financial crisis is made. Results show a great heterogeneity in the estimated income elasticities, with income elasticities being the largest for the households who consume relatively little of the good, and a small positive effect of the financial crisis on the estimated distribution of income elasticities. These results can be used by policy makers, as well as managers in the tourism industry, to predict and influence the demand of international tourism at a more detailed level. The results also go in line with theoretical predictions and give further insight in market penetration as well as an ongoing structural change in the demand for international tourism.

Changing Trends of Shopping Habits and Tourism During the Second Wave of COVID-19 – International Comparison

Over the last year, many things have changed in every field as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the rapid spread of the coronavirus, the heads of states and governments had to respond to the virus forthwith. As government restrictions have been introduced, people started to reconsider their decisions in terms of consumption and saving. The closures affected many areas that changed people's daily lives. As a result, new trends have appeared, for instance, in the tourism field and people's shopping habits. The data were collected among Slovak and Hungarian citizens through surveys as a quantitative method. Nonparametric Pearson's chi-square test, Spearman's rho correlation test, and Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to analyze six formulated hypotheses. For the latter, it was necessary to carry out normality tests. The main purpose of this article is to give an international comparison in questions whether people will prefer domestic tourism over foreign one if people prefer domestic traders' products or foreign traders' products, whether the respondents buy online more frequently due to the pandemic, if they spend less on leisure travel and whether they think that the interest in e-commerce continues to grow. As a result of the research, it can be declared that both Slovak and Hungarian people traders prefer buying domestic traders' products instead of foreign traders' ones, while the Hungarian respondents shop online more frequently. The results pointed out that Slovak respondents will prefer domestic tourism over foreign tourism.