perception of travel

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Travelers may find it difficult to empathize with locals, according to experts. Here, tourists in 2016 buy fruit juice at a market stall in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Travel is said to increase cultural understanding. Does it?

While researchers say travel does affect the brain’s neural pathways, true empathy remains an elusive destination.

Empathy is commonly defined as “putting yourself in another person’s shoes” or “feeling the emotional states of others.” It’s a critical social tool that creates social bridges by promoting shared experiences and producing compassionate behavior. But can empathy be learned? And can travel help facilitate this learning? The answer is complicated. “Research has shown that empathy is not simply inborn, but can actually be taught,” writes psychotherapist F. Diane Barth in Psychology Today . While past research has indicated that empathy is an unteachable trait, newer research—including a 2017 Harvard study —suggests that the “neurobiologically based competency” of empathy is mutable and can be taught under the right circumstances. Whether seeing the world actually opens travelers’ minds—that it makes travelers more empathetic—is up for debate. In a 2018 Harris Poll of 1,300 business travelers, 87 percent said that business trips helped them to be more empathetic to others, reports Quartz . And in a 2010 study , Columbia Business School professor Adam Galinsky found that travel “increases awareness of underlying connections and associations” with other cultures. While self-defined empathy and awareness are unreliable measurements, it stands to reason that cross-cultural exposure through travel would at least create conditions for checking conscious and unconscious biases. “If we are to move in the direction of a more empathic society and a more compassionate world, it is clear that working to enhance our native capacities to empathize is critical to strengthening individual, community, national, and international bonds,” writes Helen Riess, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of the 2017 report.

But the coronavirus pandemic and, more recently, the global Black Lives Matter protests have forced an uncomfortable reckoning—that all the travel in the world might not be enough to engender the deep cross-cultural awareness people need now.

“There’s this false adage that travel opens minds, but that’s not [a built-in] fact about what travel does,” says Travis Levius, a Black travel journalist and hospitality consultant based in London and Atlanta. “Travel does not automatically make you a better person,” nor does it clue you into “what’s going on in terms of race relations.”

Black Travel Alliance founder Martina Jones-Johnson agrees, noting that tourism boards have made it “overwhelmingly clear that travel doesn’t necessarily build empathy.”

The lack of diversity within the travel industry itself suggests that there’s much work to be done to make the industry as inclusive as the world of travel consumers. According to a 2019 annual report by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers in the leisure and hospitality industry were overwhelmingly white. Consumers, meanwhile, say they want to spend their money on travel companies whose employees reflect the world they work in, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council .

Additionally, companies that embrace inclusivity may have a better chance of avoiding tone-deaf messages , such as using “free at last”—the line is from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Dream” speech—to caption a billboard depicting white children jumping into the Florida Keys. The advertisement, which has since been taken down, launched in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis that sparked worldwide protests against police brutality.

(Related: Learn why it’s important to have diverse perspectives in travel.)

Karfa Diallo leads a tour of sites related to the trans-Atlantic slave trade in Bordeaux, France, in June 2020. Participating in activities that amplify marginalized voices and experiences can go a long way toward developing empathy, say experts.

A road paved with good intentions

Interestingly, modern tourism has fairly empathic origins. In the 1850s, Thomas Cook used new railway systems to develop short-haul leisure travel as respites for hard-working British laborers, according to Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, a senior lecturer on tourism management at the University of South Australia.

A hundred years later the United Nations declared reasonable working hours, paid holidays, and “rest and leisure” as human rights . By the 1960s, spurred by related movements to increase holiday time, the leisure sector had coalesced into a full-fledged professional industry.

Since then, the World Tourism Organization and international aid groups have championed tourism as both “a vital force for world peace [that] can provide the moral and intellectual basis for international understanding and interdependence,” as well as an economic development strategy for poorer nations.

But not everyone agrees that the travel industry has lived up to these lofty goals. In recent decades, it has been accused of doing just the opposite. As Stephen Wearing wrote nearly 20 years ago : “tourism perpetuates inequality” because multinational corporations from capitalist countries hold all the economic and resource power over developing nations.

(Related: This is how national parks are fighting racism.)

These days, inequality is baked into the very process of traveling, says veteran Time magazine foreign correspondent and Roads & Kingdoms co-founder Nathan Thornburgh. “Your frequent flier status, the stupid little cordon separating the boarding lines, the way you take an Uber or cab from the airport after you land, not a bus or colectivo or matatu —those all reinforce divisions, not empathy,” he writes in an email. “And that’s just getting to a place.”

Empathy’s downsides

Experts say developing empathy isn’t easy and comes with a host of problems. Joseph M. Cheer, a professor at Wakayama University’s Center for Tourism Research in Japan, notes that empathy inherently “others” another person.

In his 2019 study of westerners on a bike tour in Cambodia, Cheer found that despite the prosocial aspects of the experience—visiting local non-governmental organizations, interacting with local Cambodians—post-tour interviews revealed that the tourists didn’t understand the cultural context of the outing. The visitors leaned into problematic tropes like “happy,” “lovely,” and “generous” when describing locals or simply saw Cambodians as service providers.

This “othering” bias, Cheer says, becomes more noticeable the greater the distance between tourists and locals, and especially so in strictly transactional encounters, such as in hotels.

A worker at a resort in Bali. Researchers say visitors should make a commitment to understand local cultures by moving past transactional interactions.

Our individual travel experiences oppose our best intentions, says travel writer Bani Amor, who has written extensively on race, place, and power.

“The stated [positive] intentions are completely contradictive to what happens in the tourism industry and how oppressive it is to BIPOC [Black, indigenous, and people of color] around the world, how tourism laborers are being treated, and how they’re being dispossessed, not having a right to their own land and to enjoy our own places,” says Amor, who has worked in the tourism industry in their ancestral home of Ecuador.

“You can only really know your own experience,” adds Anu Taranath, a racial equity professor at the University of Washington Seattle and a second-generation immigrant.

“I think we can develop empathetic feelings and sort of crack open our sense of self to include other people’s experiences in it. We can only deepen our own understanding of who we are in an unequal world and how that makes us feel and how that motivates us to shift our life in some way or another.”

I think in its purest form, empathy is basically impossible. I can weep for you, but I can’t weep as you. Nathan Thornburgh , founder, Roads & Kingdoms

Or as Thornburgh puts it: “I think in its purest form, empathy is basically impossible. I can weep for you, but I can’t weep as you.”

Traveling deeper

While experts conclude that travel may not inspire enough empathy to turn tourists into social justice activists, the alternative—not traveling at all—may actually be worse.

“[B]ecause travel produces encounters between strangers, it is likely to prompt empathetic-type imaginings, which simply wouldn’t be there without the proximity created by travel,” says Hazel Tucker in a 2016 study published in the Annals of Tourism. It’s also one reason why it’s important to expose children to travel at an early age.

Yet truly transformational experiences require more than just showing up with a suitcase. It requires energy, effort, and commitment on the part of tourists, as well as specific conditions, says Higgins-Desbiolles. “Visitors need to be prepped for the interaction so that they are ready to engage with the people on an equal level,” she notes.

Taranath’s book Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World may provide some starting points. “It’s an invitation to think more carefully about our good intentions and where they really need to be challenged,” Taranath explains. “How do you think about identity and difference in an unequal world? What does it actually look like?”

Additionally, Tucker suggests embracing what she calls “unsettled empathy”: learning about the cultures you’re planning to visit and sitting with uncomfortable legacies of colonialism, slavery, genocide, and displacement from which no destinations are exempt.

Barbara Manigault, a Gullah sweet grass basket weaver, practices her craft in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. American tourists with limited travel opportunities can find many places in the U.S. to learn more about other cultures.

That background can be the basis for meaningful conversations, which Cheer found are “the key element that prompted empathy.” Thornburgh adds that travelers should seek out places where there is “an equal and humanistic exchange, or something approaching it, between the visitors and the visited.”

(Related: The E.U. has banned American travelers. So where can they go? )

Toward that end, experts generally ruled out cruises. Instead, immersive experiences like Black Heritage Tours that amplify historically marginalized voices provide better opportunities for meaningful connections.

Fortunately for would-be travelers, those opportunities can be found even in these pandemic times, when many countries are restricting international travel, especially for Americans.

“We are so lucky in this country that the whole world has come here to build their lives, in big cities and small, and that we have Black and [Native American] communities throughout,” says Thornburgh. “Go to their restaurants, lend your talents to their schools, help them raise money for their playgrounds.

“You want travel? You want to experience different cultures? Start at home. Start now.”

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What Can Affect the Intention to Revisit a Tourism Destination in the Post-pandemic Period? Evidence from Southeast Asia

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As tourism plays an important role in the economic development of many countries, it is essential to understand the factors that drive tourists’ attitudes and intentions to revisit a destination. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the factors that may influence revisit attitudes and intentions in the post-pandemic period. To fulfil this research objective, we used an online survey to collect data as it was a suitable and effective tool in the research context. After data cleaning, there were 431 valid responses for analysis. Cronbach’s alpha, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used to assess the reliability, the discriminant validity, and the convergent validity of all constructs. After checking the validity and reliability of the scale, the structural equation modeling is employed to test the hypotheses on the relationships between variables. We find that past travel experiences, healthcare systems, and crisis management positively impact people’ revisit attitude, which in turn affects their revisit intentions. Given restricted resources, our findings suggest that governments and travel companies should consider resources carefully and properly invest in the essentials when implementing policies to encourage tourism attraction.

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My, D.T.H., Tung, L.T. (2024). What Can Affect the Intention to Revisit a Tourism Destination in the Post-pandemic Period? Evidence from Southeast Asia. In: Negrușa, A.L., Coroş, M.M. (eds) Sustainable Approaches and Business Challenges in Times of Crisis. ICMTBHT 2022. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48288-5_7

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

The impact of perceptions of positive covid-19 information on travel motivation and intention: evidence from chinese university students.

• 1 School of Physical Education, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
• 2 Department of MA Filmmaking, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, United Kingdom
• 3 State Information Center, Beijing, China
• 4 School of Tourism and Urban-rural Planning, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the tourism industry in various ways, including tourists’ travel motivations and intentions. Unlike previous studies that have focused on the dark side of the pandemic, this study adds the dimension of perceptions of positive information on COVID-19 to the Theory of Planned Behavior to explore their influence on travel motivation and intention. A total of 470 valid questionnaires were collected from a sample of Chinese university students. The results showed that the students’ perceptions of positive COVID-19 information positively impacted their travel intentions through the variables of perceived behavioral control, travel attitudes, and travel motivations. Perceived behavioral control was the mediating variable that most explained the impact of perceptions of positive COVID-19 information on travel motivation and intention. This study contributes to the understanding of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and of university students’ travel motivations and intentions. It also offers implications for the tourism industry to formulate relevant recovery strategies during and after the pandemic.

Introduction

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been deemed the most influential and destructive event of the 21st century, especially for the tourism industry ( WTTC, 2020 ). It led many countries and regions to impose travel restrictions, which has had a serious impact on the tourism industry ( Yang et al., 2020 ). As a result of the pandemic, 96% of European countries enforced travel bans, and the valuation of hotels, airlines, and cruise companies declined significantly ( Peter and Dritan, 2020 ; Sharma and Nicolau, 2020 ). According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, one in three destinations worldwide were closed ( UNWTO, 2021b ), and the arrivals of international tourists was decreased by 72% from January 2020 to December 2020 ( UNWTO, 2021a ). Due to this, the export revenues have a loss of USD 935 billion ( Kumar et al., 2021 ). Meanwhile, the risk of infection has become a major health concern that affects travel intention ( Jonas et al., 2010 ). According to Richter (2003) , it is important to recognize the threat of global public health to tourism, which can lead to great uncertainty in people’s future travel intentions and motivations. The most significant related concern centers on the inhibition of tourism demand and the obstacles to tourists’ travel planning decisions as a result of the outbreak of infectious diseases ( Kuo et al., 2008 ).

One of the most popular research topics has been the extensive impact of the pandemic on the tourist behavior, including travel intention and motivation ( Sánchez-Cañizares et al., 2021 ). Unlike previous studies that have focused on the dark side of the pandemic, this study explores the impact of people’s perceptions of positive information related to COVID-19 on their travel motivations and intentions. The positive information of COVID-19 refers to the information that indicates the positive changes of the pandemic situation, including news regarding declining death and infection rates, news about successful vaccination drives, news of re-openings of transportations, news of re-openings of visitor attractions, and so on.

This study selected one significant tourism market segment in China, Chinese university students, as its research object. University students’ travel intentions and motivations have attracted previous scholarly attention ( Kim et al., 2012 ). Deng and Ritchie (2018) classified the risks perceived by university students during traveling into human-made, social-psychological, financial, and health categories. When these risks are perceived to be increasing in the tourism destination, students’ travel intentions decrease due to health and safety concerns ( Hartjes et al., 2009 ). However, on the other hand, university students are young and “allocentric” therefore tending to be risk-takers and crisis-resistant tourists ( Hajibaba et al., 2015 ). Do university students’ risk perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic impact their travel motivations and intentions? If the information perception is positive, will they be willing to travel? This study aims to explore these questions.

As the first country to report cases of COVID-19, China was selected as the research context. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, information about the epidemic has infiltrated the daily life of the Chinese. Apart from the complete closure of China’s tourism industry during the initial stage, the principle of limited and orderly opening has been adopted since April 8, 2020, after the pandemic was gradually controlled. Meanwhile, Chinese university students have been forced to stay at home for a long time due to the lockdown that has been enforced. Their chances of travel have been reduced, and their travel motivation was suppressed. Consequently, they may be more eager to travel and pay more attention to information related to the pandemic, especially positive information. Thus, to understand whether university students are willing to travel during the pandemic, this study explores the impact of perceptions of positive COVID-19 information on travel intentions and motivations. Due to outbound travel has been restricted in China since the break of COVID-19 pandemic, travel in the present study refers to domestic travel only.

Materials and Methods

Research design.

A questionnaire was designed based on the literature and the background of the COVID-19 pandemic with five dimensions (see Table 1 ). The maximum variance method was used for exploratory factor analysis, and items with a factor load less than 0.6 were excluded. A seven-point Likert scale was adopted, in which 1 represented “strongly disagree” and 7 represented “strongly agree.”

Table 1 . Research variables of the survey.

We used the Questionnaire Star online questionnaire system 1 to sample Chinese university students from November 20 to 30, 2020. The link of the online questionnaire was distributed to university students’ WeChat (the most popular social media in China) groups. A total of 470 effective questionnaires out of 500 were collected, with an effective recovery rate of 94%. The questionnaire included four descriptive questions on the students’ gender, grade, risk level in the region, and intended travel mode during the pandemic. SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 21.0 software were used for data analysis to explore the relationships among the various factors.

Literature Review

Travel motivation.

Scholars have divided the dimensions of travel motivation in different ways in the context of different theories. Yüksel et al. (2005) believed that escape, relaxation, enhancing mutual relationships, and self-realization and progress were tourists’ core motivations. According to Lee et al. (2004) , motivations for tourism mainly include cultural attractions, family reunions, curiosity, attraction to local festivals, and the desire for emotional satisfaction. Travel motivations may vary among different tourists, especially those from different countries and cultural backgrounds ( Kim and Prideaux, 2005 ). Travel motivation is also influenced by different values. People with internal values are more eager to visit new tourist sites, while people with external values are more concerned about the on-site experience and the excitement they gain from it ( Li and Cai, 2012 ).

In the face of the sudden outbreak of a disease, people may decrease their travel motivations and concern about protecting themselves ( Zheng et al., 2021 ). The COVID-19 pandemic has aroused people’s increased desire for safety ( Rettie and Daniels, 2020 ), resulting in taking several measures to protect themselves, such as avoiding going out or visiting only places where there is little risk of infection ( Zheng et al., 2021 ). Therefore, evading disease and danger may become a motivation for traveling ( Kock et al., 2020 ). Qiao et al. (2021) asserted the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and tourists’ self-protection motivations. The present study seeks to investigate how people’s travel motivations are affected by their perceptions of positive COVID-19 information.

Travel Intention

Travel intention has been reported to be influenced by a series of factors. Mohamad et al. (2012) claimed that a destination’s image can affect people’s willingness to visit it. Further, the promotion of destinations may positively affect people’s travel intention due to the lower costs ( Jalilvand et al., 2012 ). Different personalities also lead to different travel intentions. Some people prefer familiar destinations, while others prefer those that are unfamiliar ( Lepp and Gibson, 2008 ). Previous tourism experience is also considered to affect travel intention ( Hsieh et al., 2016 ), and interest in the destination plays a significant role in travel intention and destination choice ( Echtner and Ritchie, 1993 ).

Another factor that can influence travel intention is information. Most tourists use online information to increase their understanding of the destination before traveling ( Narangajavana et al., 2017 ), and searching for information about the destination is considered a common process in tourism decision making ( Amaro et al., 2016 ). Positive information, such as good E-WOM (electronic word-of-mouth), increases potential tourists’ travel intentions ( Jalilvand et al., 2012 ). In contrast, negative information (e.g., information about risks) may decrease travel intentions ( Beerli et al., 2007 ). In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourists’ travel intentions are more related to the information about epidemic situation and related regulations of their destinations. The information available on the COVID-19 pandemic from different channels (e.g., news, social media, relatives, and friends) has tended to be extremely negative, especially in the early stage, and the emotional anxiety and fear caused by this information have led people to give up their travel plans ( Bae and Chang, 2021 ).

The relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and travel intention has been investigated by several studies. Luo and Lam (2020) found that fear of COVID-19 directly affects travel anxiety and risk attitude, which have direct negative effects on travel intention. Riestyaningrum et al. (2020) found that the pandemic had significant partial effects on international tourists’ travel intentions. Zenker et al. (2021) tested how tourists’ travel intentions are affected by their intra-personal anxiety. Zheng et al. (2021) asserted that travel intentions are influenced by tourists’ evaluation of the risks and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these studies have tended to focus on the impact of negative information about the COVID-19 pandemic on travel intentions, while little attention has been paid to the possible positive changes to travel intention that may occur when the situation improves. Thus, to complement the existing literature, this study explores the influence of perceptions of positive COVID-19 information on travel intention.

Information Perception

The influence of information perception on travel decisions has been confirmed by previous studies ( Fan et al., 2018 ; Gössling et al., 2020 ). Before traveling, people search for relevant information about the destination in advance ( Nunkoo et al., 2013 ). When people have a positive view of the information about a destination, their travel intention to this destination is stimulated ( Woodside et al., 2011 ). However, when people perceive risks in a destination, the fear they feel further increases their self-protection motivations ( Zheng et al., 2021 ). Once this perception of risks exceeds their psychological endurance, tourists may give up their travel plans altogether. This is consistent with the Basic Emotion Theory, which is central to the study of emotional expression, stating that emotions enable the individual to respond adaptively to evolutionarily significant threats and opportunities in the environment ( Keltner et al., 2019 ).

Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty (2009) found that infectious diseases negatively impact tourists’ travel intentions due to the potential health risks they pose. The information on the associated risks will further determine whether people have enough driving force to travel. Tourists’ perceptions of risk information further aggravate the psychological barriers to travel to risky areas ( Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty, 2009 ). The unique characteristics of COVID-19 have altered the risk perceptions associated with destinations ( Jahari et al., 2021 ). Travelers’ risk perception predicts their information-seeking process, which helps them to accumulate the risk information that influences their travel intentions ( Meng et al., 2021 ). Specifically, as a “misinfodemic” ( Williams et al., 2020 ), the negative information portrayed in the mass media regarding the COVID-19 has increased people’s perceptions of the risks of traveling and their self-protection motivations ( Qiao et al., 2021 ). Consequently, people have reduced their travel to protect their health during the pandemic ( Yang et al., 2020 ).

However, that is not to say that people are unwilling to travel during the pandemic. People may generate positive travel intention even if they are in fear of COVID-19 ( Yang et al., 2022 ). As Itani and Hollebeek (2021) revealed, visitors’ virtual reality tourism intentions increased when in-person travel was not feasible. Travel motivations and intentions that were suppressed by the pandemic will be liberated when the situation improves. The situation may also lead some people to pay special attention to the positive information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Lu et al. (2021) , people tended to seek COVID-19-related information from social media platforms where positive content was prevalent. They perceived these positive contents as desirable and necessary due to the positive impact on their emotions. Seeking further information is a common tourist strategy to reduce perceived risks ( Reichel et al., 2009 ). According to Kuo et al. (2015) , the perception of reliable, accurate, and easily available information can reduce the risks tourists perceive and stimulate their positive intentions to visit a destination. Furthermore, the public always trust and consider the information as reliable whenever it comes from the government ( Mohammed et al., 2020 ) and their trust on the government could positively influence the risk perception during the pandemic situations ( Tumlison et al., 2017 ). In the Middle East, tourists’ willingness to travel depends on their sense of security and government policies, as well as whether a vaccine against COVID-19 is available ( Choufany, 2020 ). Ivanova et al. (2021) found that the health system and disinfection status of a destination also affect tourists’ destination choice. Qiao et al. (2021) investigated the role of positive mass media coverage in decreasing tourists’ self-protection motivations. Wang et al. (2021) found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, a low-risk perception has a positive influence on tourists’ attitude toward undertaking regional travel. The above studies have indicated that, as an “infodemic” ( Williams et al., 2020 ), reliable and positive information on the COVID-19 pandemic may play a role in enhancing people’s travel intentions.

The Theory of Planned Behavior in Tourism

According to the Theory of Planned Behavior, people’s behavior is not only determined by their will but also by their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control ( Ajzen, 1991 ). This theory has been widely used in tourism research. Jalilvand et al. (2012) studied the influence of E-WOM on the choice of tourism destination by using the theoretical model of planned behavior. Sparks and Pan (2009) also revealed that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control were related to Chinese tourists’ choice of Australian destinations. Further, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, Bamberg et al. (2003) investigated how tourists’ choice of travel mode is affected by their past behaviors, habits, and the information they have.

The application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigating travel intention has presented inconsistent findings. Lam and Hsu (2006) demonstrated that attitude and perceived behavioral control are factors that can effectively predict travel intention. Lee and Jan (2018) showed that environmental attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have a positive impact on ecotourism intention. However, Sparks and Pan’s (2009) study suggested that the reasons behind different travel intentions may not be attributed to attitude and perceived behavioral control but rather to subjective norms. This indicates the necessity to test if the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior are effective in influencing people’s travel intentions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Sánchez-Cañizares et al. (2021) revealed the modulating effect of perceived risks on travel intention in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Lucarelli et al. (2020) demonstrated that the construct relationships in the Theory of Planned Behavior were not weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic and that those who have good knowledge of COVID-19 and climate change exhibit higher pro-environmental behavioral intentions.

Specifically, Li et al. (2021) explored the significant changes in post-pandemic planned travel behaviors, finding that Chinese tourists’ travel intentions would still be negatively influenced even 6 months or longer after the COVID-19 pandemic was controlled. However, they did not take into account the quality and reliability of the information available, which may mediate the negative influence of perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel intention. Moreover, their research was conducted at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak (February 9, 2020) when people were overwhelmed by fears and worries during the initial quarantine. In contrast, the present study was conducted at the end of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was under control in China and the country’s tourism industry had reopened. Contrary to the frightening information available in the early stage, the information available on the pandemic in China tended to be positive then, with few deaths and new cases of infection reported. With more knowledge and positive information about the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s travel intentions may be increased, and this study explores this issue in the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior. However, we did not include the variable of subjective norms in our framework due to inadequate theoretical support in existing studies.

Since tourism is an information-intensive industry, accurate information input is an important factor for tourists’ destination choice ( Lam and McKercher, 2013 ). Information on the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the tourism industry can affect tourists’ personal cognition and subjective judgment. As previous studies have indicated ( Reichel et al., 2009 ; Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty, 2009 ; Kuo et al., 2015 ), the more positive and reliable the information tourists receive, the fewer challenges and risks they perceive, and the more they perceive they can control of their travel behaviors. Therefore, we proposed the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1 (H1) : University students’ perceptions of the positive information on the COVID-19 pandemic have a positive impact on their perceived behavioral control of travel.

Han et al. (2010) observed that attitude is an important mediator between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention. Perceived behavioral control also affects travel intention Hsu and Huang (2012) . In addition, travel motivation is determined by tourists’ feelings and value system ( Gnoth, 1997 ), which are also related to perceived behavioral control. The more tourists perceive they can control a situation, the stronger their travel motivation will be; thus, tourists’ willingness to travel to risky destinations is affected by how much they perceive they can control their behaviors in terms of the risks posed ( Jonas et al., 2010 ). In this way, tourists traveling shorter distances from home or to familiar destinations would feel safer during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Galoni et al., 2020 ) due to their stronger perceived behavioral control. Research has further shown that the risk of COVID-19 infection affects travel intention through perceived behavioral control ( Sánchez-Cañizares et al., 2021 ). Therefore, this study proposed the following additional hypotheses:

Hypothesis 2 (H2) : University students’ perceived behavioral control has a positive impact on their travel attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hypothesis 3 (H3) : University students’ perceived behavioral control has a positive impact on their travel intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hypothesis 4 (H4) : University students’ perceived behavioral control has a positive impact on their travel motivations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As shown by Nunkoo et al. (2013) , people’s travel intentions are related to their travel attitudes. When people have a positive attitude toward travel, they will also have positive travel intentions ( Shen et al., 2019 ). Hsu and Huang (2012) also showed that travel motivation is an important predictor of travel intention. Therefore, Hypotheses 5 and 6 were proposed as follows:

Hypothesis 5 (H5) : University students’ travel attitudes have a positive impact on their travel intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hypothesis 6 (H6) : University students’ tourism motivations have a positive impact on their travel intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hsu and Huang (2012) verified that people’s motivation for travel affects their attitude toward it, while Mansour and Mumuni (2019) used the push-pull theory to demonstrate the impact of motivation on attitudes toward domestic tourism. Therefore, Hypothesis 7 was proposed as follows:

Hypothesis 7 (H7) : University students’ travel motivations have a positive impact on their travel attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on the above hypotheses, a preset model was established, as shown in Figure 1 .

Figure 1 . Conceptual model.

Demographic Information

The descriptive data are shown in Table 2 . The sample comprised both male and female students, ranging from freshmen to postgraduate students. The location risk level is defined by the New Coronavirus Pneumonia Prevention and Control Program released by the National Health Committee of the People’s Republic of China. Specifically, low-risk regions: no confirmed cases or no new confirmed cases for 14 consecutive days; medium risk regions: there are new confirmed cases within 14 days, the cumulative confirmed cases are no more than 50, and there is no aggregated epidemic within 14 days; and high risk regions: there are more than 50 confirmed cases in total, and there is an aggregated epidemic situation within 14 days.

Table 2 . Descriptive statistics ( N  = 470).

Reliability and Validity Analysis

Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to extract the questionnaire, and Caesar’s normal maximum variance method was used to rotate the questionnaire ( Joreskog and Sorbom, 1989 ). The MT4 was deleted since the factor load in this scale was less than 0.60, and 22 valid questions were retained. The reliability and validity analysis showed that the factor load of each dimension was between 0.610 and 0.930, which met the requirements of the model.

The Cronbach’s α values ranged from 0.626 to 0.856, the component reliability ranged from 0.871 to 0.890, and the average variance extraction value ranged from 0.514 to 0.726 ( Tables 3 and 4 ); thus, the reliability of all items met the requirements. The average variance extraction value (AVE) of each dimension was between 0.572 and 0.643. The parameter estimation of each measurement model and topic was significant, that is, p  < 0.001. Therefore, the five subscales reached the ideal standard of reliability and aggregate validity.

Table 3 . Measurement model.

Table 4 . Discriminatory validity.

The square root of AVE was greater than the Pearson correlation coefficient between the dimensions below the diagonal, indicating each dimension had significant difference validity ( Fornell and Larcker, 1981 ).

Measurement Model Fit Test

According to Abd-El-Fattah (2010) , the better the model fit, the closer the sample data and the model matrix. Both the absolute fit index and the relative fit index were used in the model fit test. The ratio of the chi-square value to the degree of freedom ( χ 2 /df) eliminates the influence of the degree of freedom, and it is acceptable when less than 5. As shown in Table 5 , the value of χ 2 /df was 3.471, the value of RMSEA was lower than 0.08. Although the values of GFI and AGFI were less than 0.9, they are close to 0.9 (0.848 and 0.880), which were also within the allowable range, as recommended by Hair et al. (1998) . The relative fit indices usually include CFI, IFI, and NNFI, which were all higher than 0.9 in this study. Overall, this study’s model had a good fit.

Table 5 . Index table of SEM model fitness.

Hypothesis Testing

As shown in Figure 2 and Table 6 , the path coefficients β of the seven hypotheses were all greater than 0.20, and the values of p were all less than 0.001, reaching a significant level and indicating that the seven hypotheses were all verified.

Figure 2 . Measurement and structural model analysis.

Table 6 . Outcomes of structural equation modeling analysis ( N  = 470).

Analysis of the Mediating Effect

The bootstrap method and Sobel Z test were used to test the mediating effect ( Table 7 ). The indirect effect of perceptions of positive COVID-19 information on travel intention through perceived behavioral control was 0.108 (SE = 0.027, Z  = 4 > 1.96, p  = 0.000 < 0.05). Further, the upper and lower limits of bias-corrected 95% CI and percentile 95% CI did not contain 0; therefore, the indirect effect was confirmed. The indirect effect of perceptions of positive COVID-19 information on travel intention through perceived behavioral control and travel attitude was 0.016 (SE = 0.008, Z = 2 > 1.96, p  = 0.007 < 0.05); through perceived behavioral control and travel motivation was 0.045 (SE = 0.020, z  = 2.25 > 1.96, p  = 0.000 < 0.05); and through perceived behavioral control, travel motivation, and travel attitude was 0.023 (SE = 0.001, Z  = 2.3 > 1.96, p  < 0.05).

Table 7 . Intermediary effect test table.

Among the indirect effects, perceptions of positive COVID-19 information had the largest mediating effect on travel intention through perceived behavioral control. However, the direct effect in this study was not significant, indicating that perceptions of positive COVID-19 information had a complete mediating effect on travel intention through perceived behavioral control, travel attitude, and travel motivation.

Discussion and Conclusion

Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study reveals that perceptions of positive COVID-19 information positively impacted Chinese university students’ perceived behavioral control, while their perceived behavioral control had a positive impact on their travel attitudes, motivations, and intentions. This finding is consistent with those of previous studies that have demonstrated the negative impact of environmental risks on travel intention ( Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty, 2009 ; Quintal et al., 2010 ) and the role of positive information perception in stimulating tourists’ travel intentions ( Kuo et al., 2015 ; Choufany, 2020 ; Ivanova et al., 2021 ). The more positive COVID-19 information tourists obtained from various sources, the more they perceived they could control their travel-related behavior. On one hand, positive news related to COVID-19 decreased the university students’ risk perceptions, self-protection motivations, and fear of traveling ( Qiao et al., 2021 ). On the other, the re-opening of transportation, visitor attractions, and tourism services assured the feasibility of traveling ( Puca et al., 2020 ).

Positive COVID-19 information perceptions had no direct influence but did display a complete mediating effect on travel intention through perceived behavioral control, attitude, and motivation. This result is in accordance with Zhu and Deng (2020) , who revealed that available information indirectly influenced people’s intention to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, this study also confirmed the mediating effect of perceived behavioral control on travel intention ( Sánchez-Cañizares et al., 2021 ). Scholars have previously verified that negative information causes emotional anxiety and fear, thus lowering perceived behavioral control and further lowering travel motivation and intention ( Bae and Chang, 2021 ; Zheng et al., 2021 ). In contrast, our study confirmed the positive role that positive COVID-19 information plays in enhancing travel motivation and intention, echoing Tavitiyaman and Qu (2013) .

Our finding contradicts with Li et al.’s (2021) conclusion that people’s travel intentions would still be negatively influenced 6 months or even longer after the COVID-19 pandemic was controlled. Lengthy lockdowns lead to both physical and psychological needs for leisure and escape. As long as the COVID-19 pandemic is under control, more positive information is perceived, and people’s perceived behavioral control is enhanced. This leads to positive attitudes toward travel, the release of suppressed travel motivation, and, ultimately, the increase of travel intention. This was particularly obvious among the Chinese university students who had been forced to stay at home and take classes online for a long time. They paid special attention to any positive information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and the tourism industry. With increased perceived behavioral control, they generated positive travel attitudes, motivations, and intentions, which can transform into actual travel once other preconditions (e.g., time and money) are met. At present, the pandemic is under control in China and some other countries, and the tourism industry is gradually recovering. We believe that COVID-19 will be controlled in the near future as governments adopt relevant measures and the gradual use of vaccines. According to the results of this study, with perceptions of more positive information about the pandemic’s progress, people’s travel intention will be increased.

Implications

We investigated the travel motivation and intention of Chinese university students during the tourism industry’s recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding the variable of positive information perceptions to the relationship between the pandemic and tourism for the first time. First, this study contributes to our understanding of the potential recovery of the tourism industry during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. While previous studies mainly focused on the dark side of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel motivation and intention, our study fills the knowledge gap of the bright side of positive COVID-19 information. The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to alter the ways in which tourists assess risks and form their risk perception ( Jahari et al., 2021 ). Different from the general positive information perception (e.g., good service quality), COVID-19 positive information perception relates to travelers’ first priority health and safety. It decreases travelers’ emotional anxiety and fear for pandemic, which is the decisive factor of travel motivation and travel intention. Second, our study also enriches the research on university students’ travel motivations and intentions in terms of the impacts of risk and information perceptions. Previous studies have confirmed university students’ travel intentions would decrease in face of risks ( Hartjes et al., 2009 ; Kim et al., 2012 ). The findings in this study reveal that university students are risk-takers and crisis-resistant tourists ( Hajibaba et al., 2015 ) when the information they perceive is positive. Third, it extends the application of the Theory of Planned Behavior in the tourism research by adding the dimension of positive information perceptions. It asserts the effectiveness of the Theory of Planned Behavior in predicting tourists’ intention and behavior.

This study also offers some practical implications. According to the results, perceptions of positive COVID-19 information mainly affect travel intention through perceived behavioral control. Therefore, tourism operators should take measures to increase undergraduate students’ perceived behavioral control, thereby increasing their travel intentions. This includes delivering various positive information to undergraduate students, including the positive COVID-19 situation at destinations, the measures taken in these destinations to prevent infection, the tourism services provided, and so on. Corresponding measures should be taken to strengthen the use of technology from the perspective of information perception, especially in this special period, to ensure the wide circulation and authenticity of information. Some smart phone applications which are popular among Chinese undergraduate students (e.g., WeChat and Douyin) should be paid special attention. Tourism managers can spread relevant security information about the COVID-19 pandemic prevention measures that potential tourists may pay attention to. During travel, tourism operators should also employ measures to reduce the risks of tourists’ exposure to infection, such as improving sanitation and disinfection services, strictly controlling the number of tourists entering visitor attractions, and offering different viewing routes designed to divert tourists and avoid the formation of crowds.

Limitations and Future Research

Due to the time limitation and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, only 470 valid samples were collected online. Future research should expand the scope of this study’s survey and the sample size and improve the quality of the data collection by distributing questionnaires both online and offline. Although the questionnaire showed good reliability and validity within the acceptable range, this study only explored travel motivation and intention based on the components of the theory of planned behavior, while overlooking other influencing factors. Future research should include these other influencing factors, based on other theories, to investigate the impact of positive COVID-19 information perceptions on travel motivation and intention.

Furthermore, the survey was limited to China, where the pandemic has been controlled to a large extent. Consequently, most respondents were from low-risk areas, and many of them had recently undertaken tourism activities. The results may differ in countries where the pandemic situation is still critical. Moreover, as Kaczmarek et al. (2021) noted, collectivist countries have tended to cope better with the pandemic, and China is a good example of this. Government control has played a significant role in tourism recovery during the pandemic ( Fong et al., 2021 ), and their trust in the government may increase Chinese tourists’ travel intentions by decreasing their fear ( Zheng et al., 2021 ). Future research should be undertaken in other more individualist countries to determine if the results differ. In addition, the sample of this study is Chinese university students who are “allocentric” and rely on their parents’ economic support for travel, which limits its findings to be generalized. The respondent sample should be extended to other groups, such as the elderly, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between positive COVID-19 information perceptions and travel intention.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

Ethical review and approval were not required for the study of human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent from the participants was not required to participate in this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.

This paper is supported by the National Social Science Fund projects “The research on intelligent elderly care service mode of sports and medicine integration” (no. 21XTY006).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, travel intention, theory of planned behavior, travel motivation, university students

Citation: Li S, Liu C, Wu Z, Ma Y, Chen B, Gao S, Chen Z and Xin S (2022) The Impact of Perceptions of Positive COVID-19 Information on Travel Motivation and Intention: Evidence From Chinese University Students. Front. Psychol . 13:871330. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.871330

Received: 09 February 2022; Accepted: 28 February 2022; Published: 31 March 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Li, Liu, Wu, Ma, Chen, Gao, Chen and Xin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Shuang Xin, [email protected]

† These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Valued Travel

How Travel Can Improve Our Lives

How Can Travel Broaden Our Perspective on the World?

Travel has the incredible power to broaden our perspective on the world in ways that few other experiences can. Stepping outside of our familiar surroundings and immersing ourselves in new cultures, landscapes, and ways of life opens our minds and expands our understanding of the world and its complexities. In this article, we will explore how travel can broaden our perspective and help us develop a more global outlook.

Experiencing Cultural Diversity One of the most significant ways travel broadens our perspective is by exposing us to diverse cultures. Through firsthand experiences, we encounter different customs, traditions, languages, and belief systems. We learn to appreciate and respect the unique qualities of each culture, breaking down stereotypes and preconceived notions. This exposure fosters empathy, understanding, and a deeper appreciation for the richness of human diversity.

Challenging Stereotypes and Biases Traveling allows us to challenge the stereotypes and biases we may hold. By interacting with people from different backgrounds, we realize that our assumptions and generalizations are often inaccurate. We come face-to-face with the reality that there is much more to a culture, a country, or a group of people than what we may have previously believed. This process of unlearning and reevaluating our preconceptions helps us become more open-minded and compassionate individuals.

Gaining Historical and Geographical Knowledge Exploring new destinations exposes us to the historical and geographical aspects of the world. We visit ancient ruins, historical landmarks, and museums that provide valuable insights into different civilizations, events, and historical contexts. Learning about the histories and struggles of various regions deepens our understanding of the world’s complexity and helps us appreciate the interconnectedness of past and present.

Witnessing Social and Economic Inequalities Traveling allows us to witness social and economic inequalities firsthand. We may encounter poverty, unequal access to education, healthcare, and basic necessities. These experiences provide a stark reminder of the disparities that exist in the world. It compels us to reflect on our own privilege and motivates us to advocate for positive change. Through this awareness, we develop a greater sense of social responsibility and become more engaged global citizens.

Appreciating Natural Beauty and Environmental Concerns Traveling exposes us to the incredible natural beauty of our planet. From majestic mountains and serene beaches to lush rainforests and vibrant coral reefs, these experiences instill in us a sense of awe and reverence for the Earth’s natural wonders. Witnessing the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation in different regions also deepens our understanding of the urgent need for environmental conservation and sustainability.

Learning from Different Perspectives Engaging in conversations with locals and fellow travelers provides valuable opportunities to learn from different perspectives. We gain insights into local issues, cultural norms, and societal challenges. These exchanges broaden our understanding of complex global issues such as politics, social justice, and human rights. By actively listening and engaging in meaningful dialogue, we expand our worldview and become more informed global citizens.

Developing Adaptability and Flexibility Traveling often requires us to adapt to new environments, navigate unfamiliar transportation systems, and overcome unexpected challenges. These experiences cultivate adaptability, resilience, and problem-solving skills. We learn to embrace uncertainty and become more flexible in our thinking and approach to life. This adaptability extends beyond travel and allows us to navigate various situations with an open mind and a positive attitude.

Fostering a Sense of Connection and Unity Traveling connects us with people from different cultures and backgrounds, fostering a sense of connection and unity. We realize that despite our differences, there are common threads that bind us together as human beings. We discover shared values, aspirations, and emotions. This sense of connection helps break down barriers and promotes a more inclusive and compassionate worldview.

Encouraging Personal Growth and Self-Reflection Traveling provides ample opportunities for personal growth and self-reflection. Stepping outside of our comfort zones and encountering new experiences pushes us to confront our fears, embrace change, and discover our true capabilities. We gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. Traveling challenges us to question our beliefs, values, and priorities, leading to personal transformation and growth.

Inspiring a Lifelong Love for Exploration and Discovery Perhaps one of the most enduring ways travel broadens our perspective is by instilling in us a lifelong love for exploration and discovery. Once we experience the transformative power of travel, we develop a thirst for knowledge and a curiosity about the world. This passion for exploration extends beyond the boundaries of travel and influences our everyday lives. We become lifelong learners, constantly seeking new experiences and opportunities for growth.

Travel is a catalyst for broadening our perspective on the world. By exposing us to diverse cultures, challenging stereotypes, and providing opportunities for learning, reflection, and personal growth, travel helps us develop a more global outlook. It fosters empathy, understanding, and a deep appreciation for the interconnectedness of our world. So, let us embark on our journeys with open hearts and open minds, ready to embrace the transformative power of travel and the profound impact it has on our perspective of the world.

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The Effects of COVID-19 Risk Perception on Travel Intention: Evidence From Chinese Travelers

1 College of Tourism, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China

2 Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

3 Department of Tourism and Hospitality, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan

Sughra Bibi

4 Guanghua Law School Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

Wenkuan Chen

Associated data.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

This study attempts to assess the relationship between risk perception, risk knowledge, and travel intentions of Chinese leisure travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the framework of social contagion and risk communication theories by analyzing a sample of 1,209 travelers through structural equation modeling (SEM) and path analysis. We used the process macro of Hayes to analyze the moderation effects of age, gender, and education between risk perception, media and interpersonal communication, and risk knowledge. It was found that travelers were more concerned about self-efficacy than severity. Risk perception of travelers predicts the information-seeking process of tourists. This process helps travelers to accumulate risk information that influences their travel intentions. Travelers give more importance to interpersonal (contagion) communication in making a traveling decision. Demographic factors influence traveling decision-making; women travelers were found to be more risk resilient than men. Young travelers seek information at low- and old travelers at high-risk levels. Marketing implications also provided.

Introduction

The tourism industry is most vulnerable to natural disasters, conflicts, terrorism, and economic crisis. The health measures and communication approaches, such as homestay campaigns, lockdowns, travel bans, quarantine, and social distancing, have ceased tourism-related industries operations. The tourism industry shows its resilience in bouncing back from major economic, political, and health crises (Sigala, 2020 ); however, the unprecedented vulnerabilities of COVID-19 unveiled that the crisis is different and would have long-lasting structural changes to the tourism industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the existing economic and tourism systems, has led the world to a recession, and has limited the potential of travelers to their homes. The COVID-19 epidemic undoubtedly uncovered that the lack of knowledge restrained the capability of the tourism industry to manage the uncertainty and risk of this magnitude.

The Chinese outbound tourism market becomes an attention point for the international tourism industry to boost their economies (Yu et al., 2020 ). Outbound Chinese travelers have become a source of earnings for millions of people in the rest of the world (Wen et al., 2020 ). Since the start of the new Lunar year, travel agencies and airlines in China have suspended their operations. In the Spring Festival, millions of Chinese travelers usually travel across the country and abroad; however, in response to COVID-19, all the traveling has been suspended (Bogoch et al., 2020 ). The significance of Chinese travelers to the world makes it of considerable relevance to examine and understand their psychological and behavioral drives and their reaction to travel post-COVID-19.

The tourism industry of China is multiplying and becoming a significant part of the Chinese economy (Li et al., 2010 ). The domestic and outbound travel boom in China is due to the emergence of an affluent middle class and to ease of movement (Huang et al., 2015 ). Over the last few decades, since the beginning of the reforms and open-door policy, China has become the busiest outbound and inbound tourist market (Shambaugh, 2013 ). It was estimated that the number of domestic trips in China would increase to about 2.38 billion trips by 2020 (Rosen, 2018 ). “China is the single largest outbound travel market in the world in terms of spending” (Ying et al., 2020 ). The major factors driving the growth of the outbound tourism market of China include a rising affluent middle-class population, a liberal tourism policy, and an open-door policy. We choose China for the present study because it is among the top 10 global destinations, and, when it comes to outbound tourism, China leads the way in terms of total spending worldwide (UNWTO, 2018 ). Chinese tourists made 150 million outbound trips in 2018 and spent $227 billion (UNWTO, 2019 ); however, due to COVID-19, a total of 25 million outbound trips are estimated this year that could wipe out $73 billion spending (Folinas and Metaxas, 2020 ). As the Lunar New Year of China begins, under normal circumstances, ~400 million Chinese travelers make 3 billion trips across China, out of which 7 million were estimated to travel abroad (Reuters, 2019 ); however, COVID-19 ceased this massive migration in 2020.

The growing discussion on the tourism industry and COVID-19 pandemic calls for a deeper understanding of traveler risk and intention to travel (Khan et al., 2020b , e ). The cognizance of travel risk formation of perceived COVID-19, risk knowledge, and willingness to act according to the outbreak and behavioral changes would enable the industry stakeholders to recover and reform the existing norms. The transformation of the tourism industry depends on the behavior of the travelers in response to a potential crisis (Sigala, 2020 ). There is an extensive stream of knowledge about tourism, terrorism risk, and political risk; however, there are few studies on tourism and health risks, such as those of Jonas et al. ( 2011 ), and Wang et al. ( 2019 ). Hence, these studies are conducted in a normal situation, overlooking the severity of a pandemic like COVID-19 on traveler psychological condition and behavioral intentions. The literature on the perceived risk of infectious diseases, such as SARS, HINI, and Ebola, comes from the studies, for instance, of Kim et al. ( 2015 ), Gee and Skovdal ( 2017 ), and Brug et al. ( 2004 ). These studies are mostly descriptive and are not based on firm theoretical backgrounds; besides, the validity and the reliability of the scales are unconfirmed. However, this study is based on a solid theoretical background and provided a reliable and validated measure of COVID-19 risk perception and its connection to media channels, risk knowledge building, and travel intentions, which make our study unique.

The purpose of this research is to examine travel risk perception and travel intentions (Chinese travelers) with relevant elements by applying contagion and risk communication theories in the context of COVID-19 to understand traveler risk behavior. Specifically, this research investigates the relative importance of media and peer groups in reshaping health risk knowledge that influences travel behavior, taking into account the demographic factors that influence the behavior of the travelers. This study is also motivated by the call of the scholars to investigate the behavioral response of the Chinese travelers to COVID-19. Travel decisions are complicated and risky; travelers are always encouraged to search for new information (Griffin et al., 2004 ), and, nowadays, this is done by relying on media information and social network opinions (Leder et al., 2015 ).

To do so, we collected data through an online survey, targeting leisure travelers, living in various regions of China, who visited a foreign country at least one time within the past 3–5 years. The survey was available for completion between June 2, 2020, and August 29, 2020. The final sample includes 1,209 filled questionnaires. An exploratory analysis was performed for the initial reliability of measurements, followed by confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the validity of the scales. We applied structural equation modeling and path analysis for analyzing the relationship between the variables. It is expected that the outcomes of this research would enlarge the understanding of risk perception and travel intentions of travelers during COVID-19; besides, it would inform the industry, policymakers, and stakeholders about reshaping the current value system, health priorities, and advancement in technology.

Theoretical Background and Hypotheses

The risk associated with the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have far reaching influence on the travel intentions. These influences would vary from person to person, having different sociocultural backgrounds. This study focuses on Chinese potential leisure travelers to debate the impacts of COVID-19 on their travel intentions. With the risk of human-to-human spread of COVID-19, Chinese authorities passed policies for social distancing and avoidance to travel (Chen et al., 2020 ). People have lost their traditional lifestyle due to the fear of COVID-19, for instance, virtual buying, entertainment, and travel experience (Sigala, 2020 ). The COVID-19 earlier tourism research mostly focused on the economic impacts and survival; however, less attention is paid to travel behaviors, intentions to inform businesses when to resume operations, and what segments of the market to target (Gössling et al., 2020 ). It is essential to investigate the basic unit (traveler) of the tourism industry for transformation and inform all the stakeholders what strategies and new ways would benefit the future.

Risk is an inherent segment of traveling decision-making for (international) travelers (Reisinger and Mavondo, 2005 ). In the tourism literature, perceived risk includes the feeling of fear, nervousness, anxiety, and worry (Reisinger and Mavondo, 2005 ; Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty, 2009 ) or the perceived probability of (very) bad events (Ritchie et al., 2017 ). Thus, travel-related decision-making is complicated (Quintal et al., 2010 ); this motivates travelers to get more information to manage risk and uncertainty. Risk information-seeking behavior enhances traveler risk knowledge about the travel destination and ultimately influences traveling intentions (Griffin et al., 1999 ). Travelers improve their risk knowledge by obtaining information either from a social network or from mass media. Research indicates that risk communication and risk perception collectively impact traveler behavioral intentions (Leder et al., 2015 ). Risk communication aims to inform people who are threatened by the perceived risk (Leder et al., 2015 ). Travelers integrate this broad set of information and network opinions into their traveling decisions.

Social contagion theory explains the underlying mechanism of how an individual level of communication influences risk knowledge (Muter et al., 2013 ). “The idea of social contagion poses that individuals adopt the attitudes or behaviors of others in the social network with whom they communicate. The theory does not require that there is intent to influence, or even an awareness of influence, only that communication takes place” (Scherer and Cho, 2003 ). Social networks function as critical channels in which people receive, share, and exchange information about risk-related events. Although social networks are recognized as essential sources of social influence, no such study exists in tourism literature that explicitly explored the impact of risk perception contagion on risk knowledge and travel intentions. The conceptual path model of the research is presented in Figure 1 (additional supporting materials are provided in Supplementary Material ).

Conceptual modeling.

Risk Perception

Risk is the subjective feeling of an individual concerning uncertainty (Quintal et al., 2010 ). Perceived risk has been conceptualized as the subjective determinant of expected potential losses, where each outcome has assigned a probability (Dholakia, 2001 ). In tourism literature, perceived risk has been identified as a multifaceted phenomenon comprised of several risk factors (Chien et al., 2017 ). Tourists avoid traveling when the perceived health risk is high (Aliperti and Cruz, 2018 ; Khan et al., 2020a , 2021 ). Perceived risk has been measured as a combination of perceived severity (magnitude), anxiety (feeling of worry, nervousness), and efficacy (safety concerns) (Reisinger and Mavondo, 2005 ; Rittichainuwat and Chakraborty, 2009 ). Scholars used various measures during SARS and HINI outbreaks to map the risk perception (Leppin and Aro, 2009 ; Bults et al., 2011 ; Kim et al., 2015 ). Anxiety is considered a salient factor in assessing perceived risk (Davis-Berman and Berman, 2002 ). Severity is a critical determinant of predicting risk perception (Brewer et al., 2004 ). This discussion leads us to assume that severity, efficacy, and anxiety lead to risk perception (additional supporting materials are provided in Supplementary Material ).

Risk Perception, Media Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Knowledge, and Travel Intention

Travelers are easy victims of infectious diseases (Baker, 2015 ). Tourists often experience a great degree of severity, anxiety, and efficacy to epidemic and pandemic outbreaks when traveling internationally (Korstanje, 2011 ; Khan et al., 2020c , f ). Perceived risk is viewed as a motivational factor that influences subsequent travel intentions, knowledge searches, and dissemination of information, and visiting decision-making (Dholakia, 2001 ). Travelers search for information to reduce the degree of risk associated with their travel (Atkin and Thach, 2012 ). Risk perception is regarded as the antecedent of risk information-seeking behavior (Huurne and Gutteling, 2008 ). Mass media provide the audience with relevant information about risk (Hall, 2002 ). Additional supporting materials are provided in Supplementary Material under the title “Risk Perception of COVID-19 and Travel Intention.” Thus, we assume that COVID-19 risk perception has an association with media and interpersonal communication.

H1a: The COVID-19 risk perception influences traveler information-seeking behavior from a mass media communication.

H1b: The COVID-19 risk perception influences traveler information-seeking behavior from interpersonal communication.

Most of the studies have examined that audiences use mass media during the outbreak of infectious disease to enhance their level of risk knowledge (Pandey et al., 2010 ; Khan et al., 2020e ). Individuals actively seek information when making an important decision about their health (Huurne and Gutteling, 2008 ). The increase in risk boosts the desire to seek information to improve individual risk knowledge and guide their traveling decisions (Huurne and Gutteling, 2008 ). The Risk Information Seeking and Processing (RISP) model (Yang et al., 2014 ), the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) (Chaiken, 1999 ), the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991 ), and the model of the Information Search Process (IPS) (Kuhlthau, 1991 ) allow an individual to investigate the critical drives of risk information. The individual social environment also increases the desire to gain more knowledge by seeking information. Decisions of individuals are greatly influenced by their family, friends, and a circle of colleagues (Ho, 2012 ). Thus, the following hypotheses are assumed.

H2a: Media communication affects traveler risk knowledge.

H2b: Interpersonal communication affects traveler risk knowledge.

H2c: Media communication has an association with interpersonal communication.

The growing amount of information accessible through mass media and the Internet can promote individual risk-avoiding behaviors (Stryker, 2003 ). Media information influencing individual behavior is greater if those individuals talk about media contents in interpersonal networks (Lee, 2009 ). Individuals are inclined to base their decisions first by considering what their social network thinks about the prevailing risk. This whole discussion leads us to conclude that individual travelers perceive a certain degree of risk about infectious diseases when intending to travel. The risk perception motivates travelers to seek more information to enhance their knowledge to reduce the risk of contagious diseases. The information flow either comes from mass media or interpersonal networks. At the same time, media communication has a positive association with interpersonal communication. This information-seeking behavior ultimately influences travel intention. Thus, we assume the following hypotheses:

H3a: Risk knowledge influences travel behavior intentions.

H3b: Media communication influences travel behavior intentions.

H3c: Interpersonal communication influences travel behavior intentions.

Demographic factors play a vital role in moderating the relationship between perceived risk and dependent variables (Kusumi et al., 2017 ). This discussion leads us to pose the following hypotheses:

H4a: Demographic factors (gender, age, and education) moderate the relationship between COVID-19 risk perception and interpersonal communication.

H4b: Demographic factors (gender, age, and education) moderate the relationship between COVID-19 risk perception and media communication.

H4c: Demographic factors (gender, age, and education) moderate the relationship between interpersonal communication and risk knowledge.

H4d: Demographic factors (gender, age, and education) moderate the relationship between media communication and risk knowledge.

Research Method

A snowball sampling technique was used for the collection of data. We target only leisure travelers who visited a foreign country at least one time within the past 3–5 years. An online survey link was distributed through WeChat, Sina Weibo, and Tencent QQ in various regions of China with the reward of a red packet (minimum 10 yuan per participant) for the encouragement of the participants. It is ensured to receive a maximum response from the selected six regions, and candidates were recruited for conducting the survey. The survey was conducted from June 2, 2020 to August 29, 2020. We got a total of 1,209 polls; due to the precise nature of the survey based on the online link, we found no problem with missing data. The demographic characteristics indicate that, out of 1,209 participants, 58.8% were men and 45.2% were women. Besides, 47.3% belonged to 26–30 ys, 37.8% belonged to the salary group of 11,000–20,000 Yuans, and 53.2% were single. The results of travel intentions within 6 months after the pandemic revealed that ~56% of men and 66% of women would like to travel (for more details, see Table 1 ).

Demographics profile.

We also performed a normality test, suggesting that all our items have univariate normality. The skewness for all the items is <3, and kurtosis is <7. Our data failed to exhibit multivariate normality; however, it is not required for SEM. The SEM does not assume normality. Rresearchers estimate the parameters and assess the model using the maximum likelihood (ML) approach under some degree of multivariate non-normality. ML SEM can produce consistent parameter estimates even in the sense of non-normality (Wooldridge, 2009 ). Byrne adopted a kurtosis value of >7, indicating a departure from normality (West et al., 1995 ). Kline ( 2015 ) suggested values greater than 3 (in absolute value), which might indicate more extreme skew levels. If the univariate distributions are nonnormal, then the multivariate distribution will be nonnormal (West et al., 1995 ).

Instrument Measurements

This conceptual model of the study is comprised of one exogenous and four endogenous variables, whereas perceived severity, efficacy, and anxiety form the risk perception variable. Interpersonal communication, media communication, knowledge, and traveling intentions are endogenous variables. This study deals with risk perception as a second-order construct. The scales for all measurements are adopted from the previous literature with maximum changes as per the requirement of COVID-19. The scales of perceived severity, efficacy, and anxiety are taken from Brug et al. ( 2004 ), Bults et al. ( 2011 ), and Lau et al. ( 2003 ). The perceived severity scale comprises four items: perceived efficacy consists of six items, and perceived anxiety consists of three items. The media communication and interpersonal communication scale contains eight items, each taken from the past studies of Gao et al. ( 2019 ) and Gee and Skovdal ( 2017 ). The knowledge scale consists of eight items in total, measuring the knowledge of the participants about the COVID-19 pandemic. The scale is taken from Brug et al. ( 2004 ) and Bults et al. ( 2011 ). The traveling behavior intention scale consists of seven items, measuring participant travel behavioral intentions during the pandemic. The scale is taken from Desivilya et al. ( 2015 ) and Schroeder et al. ( 2013 ). All the research items are designed on a 5-point Likert, ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. A list of all the research items is provided in the Supplementary Material Appendix AI .

Results of Performed Analyses

Common method variance.

The data collected from the same source simultaneously in a cross-sectional design always pose a chance of common method variance (CMV) (Lindell and Whitney, 2001 ). In social science, it was found that CMV influences the outcomes; hence, it is recommended to control this issue (Podsakoff et al., 2012 ). Various techniques for assessing CMV in the dataset have been proposed, for instance, Harman's test (Chang et al., 2010 ). The results indicated that the total seven-factor solution explained 81.97% variance. We ran an EFA with a principal component with 22 items to examine the variance explained by a single factor. The single factor explained only a 46.54% variance out of the total; thus, the identified variance is below the 50% threshold assessment (Podsakoff et al., 2012 ). This recommends the absence of common method variance in our data. The single factor Harman's test faced criticism (Chang et al., 2010 ); hence, we also applied the approach of Liang et al. ( 2007 ) approach. First, we calculated the substantive loadings and their square for all the items; then, we introduced a common method factor to the research design. After the inclusion of the common method factor, we analyzed the mentioned once again. The comparison of two analyses revealed that the average squared substantive loadings (0.67%) was more than the squared method loadings (0.08%), as shown in Supplementary Table 2 . The insignificant and small loadings of the common method recommend that CMV is not an issue for our data.

Reliability and Validity

We analyzed the proposed model simultaneously in two steps: analysis of, first, the measurement model and, then, the structural model. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the 37 items to reveal the underlying patterns of the responses of the participants. Initially, a seven-factor logical solution (with 21 items) was attained with a Kaiser Meyer Olkin test (KMO) .921 and a significant value of Barlet of Sphericity (χ 2 = 20307, p = 0.000). A first-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the maximum likelihood method was performed. However, our proposed model consists of four first-order and one second-order variable; hence, a CFA for the second-order (risk perception) factor was performed. The result indicates that loadings of all the items are >0.5, as shown in Table 2 , which is acceptable (Chen and Tsai, 2007 ). Besides, composite reliability (CR) was >0.70, Cronbach's alpha (CA) was >0.70, and average variance extracted (AVE) was >0.50, which is on higher side than recommended (Bagozzi et al., 1991 ; Baer et al., 2008 ). The results show that all the constructs have discriminant validity as AVE is greater than maximum share variance (MSV), AVE > MSV, as shown in Table 2 . Besides, the square root of AVE is greater than the intercorrelation between the constructs, as shown in Table 3 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981 ; Bagozzi et al., 1991 ). Discriminant validity means the ability to distinguish between the two constructs. It indicates that the respondents are considering the two constructs as distinct (Sarstedt et al., 2019 ). These results support the proposed model, as the measurement model has convergent and discriminant validity, composite reliability, and internal scale consistency.

Confirmatory factor analysis.

Mean, SD, and correlations.

The bold values are the square root of AVE, It is also called diagonal correlations .

The Measurement Model

We analyzed the measurement model MM1 fit with different types of criteria, including the absolute fit, the incremental fit, and the parsimonious fit suggested by Hair et al. ( 2017 ). We tested five different measurement models, as shown in Table 4 . The measurement model with one second-order and four first-order constructs results in the confirmed fit criteria as the values of the fit indices are within the threshold proposed by Hu and Bentler ( 1999 ). The fit indices evidence a good fit for the measurement model as (χ 2 /DF = 5.13, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.964, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.956, Tucker Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.957, IFI = 0.964, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.042, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) = 0.0417), as shown in Table 4 . The measurement model MM2 is performed with three first-order and one second-order construct; the χ 2 /DF = 12.42 and other fit indices suggest poor fits. Similarly, MM3 consists of two first-order and one secord-order constructs, MM4 includes two constructs, and MM5 comprises only one construct. The fit indices suggest a poor fit for MM3, MM4, and MM5 (as shown in Table 4 ), and our data best suit measurement model MM1.

Measurement and structural model comparison.

MM2 merges KE and PC, MM3 merges KE, PC, and MC, MM4 merges KE, PC, MC, and TB, MM merges KE, PC, MC, TB, and RP .

The Structural Model

This study investigates the association between risk perception, media communication, interpersonal communication, risk knowledge, and travel behavior intentions of Chinese travelers. A structural equation model (SEM) was conducted with a maximum likelihood approach as suggested by Hair et al. ( 2017 ). The results indicate that the structural model has a good fit and acceptable, as the fit indices (χ 2 /DF = 5.67, CFI = 0.947, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.910, NFI = 0.9939, TLI = 0.938, IFI = 0.947, RMSEA = 0.070, and SRMR = 0.0625) are within the defined threshold recommended by Hu and Bentler ( 1999 ).

Hypotheses Testing

This research tests the proposed hypotheses in two steps: first, perceived severity, perceived anxiety, and perceived efficacy with risk perception; second, the association of risk perception with media communication, interpersonal communication, knowledge, and travel behavior intentions. All the paths were analyzed with standardized coefficients, t -values (C.R. = critical ratio), and p -values by using Amos 24, as shown in Table 5 .

Path analysis.

The p-value of “0.000” is just due to a technical approximation, but it's really p < 0.001 .

The results showed that COVID-19 risk perception has a strong positive relationship with perceived severity (β =0.79, t = 19.59, p < 0.001). The results supported that COVID-19 risk perception has a significant positive association with perceived efficacy (β = 0.82, t = 19.66, p < 0.001). The COVID-19 risk perception revealed a significant connection with perceived anxiety (β = 0.754, t = 15.51, p < 0.001). Risk perception exhibited significant positive linkages with media communication (β =0.69, t = 12.91, p < 0.001) and, hence, supported H1a. Risk perception also showed a significant positive connection with interpersonal communication (β =0.29, t = 6.065, p < 0.001) and, hence, supported H1b. The results further indicated that media and interpersonal communication have strong positive linkages with knowledge (β =0.41, t = 11.41, p < 0.001; and, respectively, β = 0.27 t = 7.833, p < 0.001) and, hence, supported H2a and H2b. Media communication also exhibited a significant encouraging bond with interpersonal communication (β = 0.43, t = 11.41, p < 0.001) and, hence, supported H2c. The risk knowledge presented an important positive connection with travel intention (β =0.61, t = 17.83, p < 0.001) and, hence, supported H3a. Both media and interpersonal communication revealed significant association with travel intention (β = 0.09, t = 2.953, p =0.003; and, respectively, β =0.20 t = 6.664, p = p < 0.001), hence validating H3b and H3c. All the paths are displayed in Figure 2 .

A structural equation model and path analysis.

Moderation Analysis

We performed SEM and moderation analysis separately. We are interested in knowing whether demographic factors (gender, age, and education) can potentially influence the relationship between risk perception, communication channels, risk knowledge, and travel intentions. Therefore, simple moderation analysis is enough to inform our understandings instead of any other moderation analysis. For instance, Table 6 , model 1, consists of two exogenous variables [risk perception (RP) and gender] and one endogenous/dependent variable, personal communication (PC). Using “Andrew Hayes SPSS process macro 3.1” (Hayes, 2017 ), several moderation analyses were performed to examine whether various demographic factors play any significant role in the relationship between media communication, interpersonal communication, and risk knowledge. The results in Table 6 recommend that gender moderates the relationship between risk perception and interpersonal communication with β = 0.27 t = 2.58, p < 0.009 and with an overall model fit (R 2 = 0.39, F = 263.82, p < 0.001); see model 1 in Table 6 ; hence, it supported hypothesis H4a. It was also noted that gender moderates the relationship between media communication and knowledge with β = −0.13 t = −3.45, p < 0.001 and with an overall model fit ( R 2 = 0.36, F = 227.95, p < 0.001); see model 5 in Table 6 ; thus, it supported hypothesis H4d. Besides, education moderated the relationship between risk perception and media communication β = 0.17 t = 3.98, p < 0.002 and with an overall model fit ( R 2 = 0.55, F = 492.21, p < 0.001); hence, it supported hypothesis H4b (see, model 2 in Table 6 ). It was noted that age moderates the relationships between risk perception and media communication with β = 0.11, t = 2.85, p < 0.004 and with an overall model fit ( R 2 = 0.55, F = 497.87, p < 0.001); therefore, it supported hypothesis H4b (see model 3 in Table 6 ). Age also moderated the relationship between interpersonal communication and knowledge β = −0.047, t = −2.69, p < 0.007 and with an overall model fit ( R 2 =0.31, F = 177.63, p < 0.001); thus, it supported hypothesis H4c, and media communication and knowledge β = −0.038, t = −4.86, p < 0.001 and with an overall model fit ( R 2 = 0.36, F = 235.28, p < 0.001); therefore, it supported hypothesis H4d (see Models 4 and 6 in Table 6 ). All the plots of the effects of moderation are given in Figure 3 .

Moderation analysis.

Moderation plots.

Discussion, Implications, and Limitations

Discussion of key findings.

Risk perception is always a central issue in travel and tourism literature (Reisinger and Mavondo, 2005 ; Wolff et al., 2019 ). However, minimum attention has been paid to the risk of infectious diseases and their impacts on traveling behavioral intentions. Health safety becomes an essential segment in tourism studies. This study explained individual travel behavioral intention during the COVID-19 outbreak and identified the crucial elements in travel decision-making. There is little known about the public risk perception of infectious diseases as compared with the other domains of risk, such as terrorism, environment, and social conflict. Most of the risk perception of contagious diseases information comes from previous pandemic studies, such as the study by Brug et al. ( 2004 ) on SARS risk perception and knowledge, by Gee and Skovdal ( 2017 ) on Ebola risk perception, and by Kim et al. ( 2015 ) on the H1N1 influenza pandemic risk perception and preventative behaviors.

Although these studies provide useful information, they are descriptive and do not rely on established theories; and they failed to establish the reliability and validity of scales. In contrast, our study adopted a firm theoretical ground, and we established the validity and reliability of the scales for COVID-19. This study is one of the few to examine the underlying mechanism between health risk perception and behavioral intentions of travelers. The confirmation of all hypothesized relationships opens new ways for future work to investigate additional influences within the recommended framework of risk perception and travel intentions. The proposed estimated model recommended that all the factors explained 66% variance in travel behavior intentions.

The risk perception variable used in this research supports the most extensive empirical and theoretical evidence that it is a combination of various sub-constructs (Leppin and Aro, 2009 ; Bults et al., 2011 ; Kim et al., 2015 ). It is found that risk perception explained perceived efficacy more than perceived anxiety and perceived severity. During the COVID-19 outbreak, people are more concerned about taking safety measures and are more concerned about the seriousness of the outbreak, such as getting infected. However, perceived anxiety has a relatively low relationship with risk perception as compared with efficacy and severity in the COVID-19 context. We contradict Cahyanto et al. ( 2016 ), who claimed that the Ebola outbreak has minimal effects on traveling behavior because the US government responds quickly to the situation. The magnitude of COVID-19 is much larger than any infectious disease in history; people are more concerned about their health and self-protection. Using protection motivation theory, Wang et al. ( 2019 ) attempted to identify self-protective behavior of travelers; however, the study lacks which factor is considered the most by the travelers during an infectious disease outbreak.

This study followed that of Griffin et al. ( 1999 ) in explaining the relationship between risk perception and information-seeking behavior through media and interpersonal communication to enhance the knowledge of an individual about the related risk of COVID-19. The path analysis results indicated that risk perception positively influences media and interpersonal communication; this recommended that both communication channels amplify knowledge of an individual. The travelers actively seek information from media channels, and it also helps in initiating interpersonal communication. This research clarified that media communication starts the process of risk information social diffusion and facilitates the amplification of information, as discussed by Kusumi et al. ( 2017 ). Both media and interpersonal communication influence risk knowledge; however, media communication adds more weight to risk knowledge as compared with interpersonal communication. Wang et al. ( 2019 ) discussed the traveler information-seeking behavior; however, the study lacks details about which source of information influences the traveler behavior the most. In light of social contagion theory, we identified that travelers put more weight on social group information when traveling to a destination.

The path analysis revealed that risk knowledge has a positive association with travel intention. Furthermore, interpersonal communication has a stronger relationship with traveling behavior as compared with media communication, thus providing strong support to contagion theory, which recommends that social network influences the decision-making of individuals. The findings of this study contradicted Snyder and Rouse ( 1995 ), who found that media has more impact on behavior than interpersonal communication. Furthermore, demographic factors moderate the relationship between risk perception and other variables, as indicated by the results in Table 6 . In conclusion, we acknowledged Schmierer and Jackson ( 2006 ), Beirman ( 2006 ), Cooper ( 2006 ), and Yates ( 2006 ), who suggested that risk perception of infectious diseases influences behavioral intentions of travelers; however, their models lack the underlying mechanism of how intentions of travelers are influenced. The current study explained the underlying ruling mechanisms empirically, which are lacking in the literature.

Theoretical Implications

This study advanced the literature on the mechanism of travel-related risk perception by making various theoretical contributions. This study provides an empirically verified conceptual framework that demonstrates traveler behavioral intentions to risk perception, risk communication, and knowledge building. The crisis and risk literature in tourism has failed to address a common mechanism that illustrates how risk perception forces travelers to search for information to build knowledge about the prevailing risk and then decide about traveling (Carlsen and Liburd, 2008 ). This study is significant because it provides the researchers with a theoretical foundation to conduct future research related to traveler health risk perception. This study applied a new paradigm to risk perception and traveler behavioral intentions in the context of infectious diseases, which expand the use of risk perception, risk communication, and contagion theories that have been, so far, limited to traveling research (Mileti and Fitzpatrick, 1992 ; Faulkner, 2001 ; Fediuk et al., 2010 ). The conducted model suggests that travel risk is a multidimensional construct and better explains traveler risk perception and intention to travel as indicated by others (Reisinger and Mavondo, 2005 ); the study contributes to the conceptual validity of risk theories in the travel and tourism context.

COVID-19 matches all the features that influence risk conception suggested by the literature (Slovicj, 1987 ), such as fatal consequences and unknown uncontrollability. The empirical modeling of the present study explains the underlying mechanism of knowledge building about travel risk and its impact on travel intentions during the outbreak of infectious diseases, hence providing an empirical foundation to the previous risk communication studies (Smith, 2006 ). During a health risk crisis, travel-related decisions are complicated; therefore, travelers do not only use their risk perceptions but are motivated to search for more information (Quintal et al., 2010 ). The findings suggested that travelers use media and interpersonal communication to enhance their knowledge and decide about travel. This study proposes that individual travel intention is based on herd behavior (McInnes, 2005 ).

Thus, individual risk perception and travel intention are sensitive to new information and can easily be changed (Bikhchandani and Sharma, 2000 ). For instance, the large-scale reduction in tourism and travel activities during SAAR has resulted from people making similar decisions explaining contagion effects. This study contradicts Smith ( 2006 ), who proposed that people avoid considering contagions when taking travel actions during SAAR. This study supports the contagion theory (Muter et al., 2013 ) and risk communication (Aliperti and Cruz, 2018 ) theories. Research recommends that it is difficult for people to assess the genuine threat of disease (Sandman, 1993 ) and, hence, search for information. The marked psychological perceived risk and intention to travel during COVID-19 can be attributed to two media and interpersonal information sets.

Practical Implications

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted travel and travel planning worldwide. This research investigated the risk perception of COVID-19 among Chinese leisure travelers and its impacts on their future travel intention. The outbound market of China is the largest worldwide, with 150 million international trips being made by the Chinese in 2018 (UNWTO, 2019 ). The COVID-19 risk perception limited travelers to stay close to home; hence, if the restrictions on inbound and outbound travel are lifted, people will still have concerns about traveling.

The findings suggest that travelers are more inclined toward self-protection as the efficacy coefficient is higher than the anxiety and severity coefficient. Thus, travel and tourism-related businesses are required to focus high on hygiene and cleanness to reassure travelers that they are safe. Touch-free service will become a necessity for consumers (e.g., touch-free transactions and touch-free deliveries) to avoid catching the virus when they travel (Khan et al., 2020d ). Contactless technologies, such as Ali Pay, delivery drones, and robots, that have struggled for adoption will get a new push. Tourist sites should require advanced bookings to limit crowds. Some have been told to limit guests to 30% of capacity amid lingering COVID-19 worries. The moderation indicated that low-educated travelers are less concerned about risk information as compared with highly educated; thus, travel marketing professionals, destination, and attractions managers should focus their marketing toward less-educated travelers class immediately after the pandemic. The gender moderation effect of risk perception and interpersonal communication revealed that women are less sensitive to seeking risk information in low- to medium-risk situations, indicating that women are more risk resilient than men. Travel and tourism organizations should focus more on female Chinese travelers for bookings/reservation during and after the pandemic. The moderation effects of age between risk perception and media information-seeking behavior revealed that young and mature people are inclined to seek media risk information during the low-risk perception stage, and older people are more motivated to find media risk information during the high-risk perception stage. Hence, older people are more concerned when risk severity is high and have a high level of travel anxiety. Thus, marketing campaigns in high-risk situations should focus on young travelers, and older people should be the target in low-risk situations.

The association between communication channels and risk knowledge-building scenarios during the pandemic era offers a sustainable communication layout to travel and tourism organizations. They should focus on virtual tours to keep travelers engaged and motivated. Live streaming events can be used as an engagement tool for the museums, theatres, and scenic spots. They will offer an experience that can be enjoyed while adhering to travel restrictions. The situation of social distancing with COVID-19 offers the rural destinations an opportunity to focus on marketing where social distance is not an issue. Crisis and opportunities often go together; however, each major event has raised business opportunities. Despite the impact of the outbreak, it could accelerate developments in the industry in several ways: First, by driving the rearrangement of traditional tourism and the refreshing of new tourism models. The industry should focus on customer needs, customize its products, optimize product expressions, refine operations, and establish long-term relationships with users.

Service providers also need to stay in touch with customers, thereby securing customer loyalty and maintaining a keen sense of their needs; second, by advancing the digitalization of the tourism industry. Online short video marketing has received a lot of attention during the epidemic, and offline tourism operators could now consider reaching users through short video interactive projects. It will keep people interested in travel. It is advised that travel and tourism organizations continue advertisements to hold themselves on the minds of the traveler. Destination management organizations should focus on motivational marketing campaigns, such as “Till Then, Stay Safe,” to urge international and domestic travelers to stay safe during the pandemic and continuing dreaming and planning to escape their stunning beautiful destinations. This short communication strategy will keep the destinations on top of the minds of travelers and make them feel worthy for the destinations.

The proposed model of this study also suggests the communication mechanism for the revival of the traveling industry. As travelers seek risk information through mass media and interpersonal communication that influence their traveling behavior, a reverse communication strategy with the same channels could be used during and after the pandemic to change their perception that they are safe during their travel and at the destinations. To attract and regain the trust of existing and prospective customers, travel and tourism organizations need to communicate aggressively to the customers through the mass media at large and social media at the individual level. Tourism destinations, hotels, airlines, and travel agencies should use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Zoom to connect people from different cultures and natural worlds. Resources like webcams in national parks, free virtual museums, Google arts, and virtual culture films offer a potential substitute experience that might help engage and motivate tourists for future travel. In this environment of travel restrictions and fear, it is essential for travel and tourism professionals to communicate marketing messages with the right tone; for instance, messages should be respectful and sensitive to the current situation. Most credible sources should be identified to present your story (destinations, travel organizations, airlines, and hotels) to the audience backed by visible actions and audiovisual responses to the crisis. During and after the pandemic, there are opportunities to build brand equity through media relations; for instance, the relationship of travel journalists is an appetite to earn media space in a crisis.

Besides, the COVID-19 impact will be felt for some time. It is now more important than ever for all the major stakeholders of the tourism and hospitality industry (airports, airlines, transport, hotels, destinations, natural and theme parks) to prepare for the new reality. All the stakeholders should prioritize health and safety commitment to deliver a queueless, contactless, and sanitized end-to-end travel experience that is automated as much as possible. Thus, technology remains a key option for reviving travel; electronic IDs, passports, boarding passes, robot cleaners, and medical screening should be deployed to minimize physical contact between travelers and the surface. In the short run, it is not wise to think about starting international traveling due to the second outbreak of COVID-19; thus, to support the tourism and hospitality industry, travel companies should be focused first to encourage domestic tourism. Meanwhile, domestic tourism and travel are expected to be a substitute for foreign tourism demand.

Limitations and Future Research Directions

This study provides a solid theoretical and empirical ground for the researcher to apply these approaches to longitudinal studies to study the impact of the global pandemic on travel intentions. We have focused on Chinese leisure travelers; new research should address various nationalities and travelers from different social and cultural backgrounds to discover their use of communication channels for acquiring risk knowledge about pandemics and use of this knowledge to decide about traveling. Besides, identifying risk-searching information behavior in diverse tourism and traveling settings is important for formulating marketing strategies to modify travel intention accordingly. This study is based on a cross-sectional survey design, which is its main limitation; besides, it has been collected only from Chinese leisure travelers. The findings reveal that international travelers are more concerned about their safety. The severity of the disease contributes more to the risk perception than anxiety. Media communication contributes higher to risk knowledge building than interpersonal communication. However, interpersonal communication is more vital than media communication in travel decision-making. It shows that people pay more attention to their family, friends, and near circles in making decisions. This study applied the snowball sampling technique, which constrains the findings. We used this sampling technique because of limited access to the participants due to the high risk of COVID-19. Each participant was asked to forward the questionnaire to his/her peer group members (family, friends, colleagues who have traveled abroad within the past 3–5 years). This sampling technique is criticized for sample representativeness. Hence, our sample may be some issues of representativeness. However, our study provides possible strategic implications and informs tourism and hospitality organizations what segments of the market they can target.

Data Availability Statement

Author contributions.

AK and SB contributed equally to the conception, study design, and writing of the original manuscript. YM helped in the idea generation. WC revised the manuscript. YL helped in data collection and literature collection. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the project of Sichuan county economic development research center of Sichuan provincial key research base of social sciences, “research on the coordination mechanism of county economic, ecological and social coupling development of giant panda national park” (xy2020034) and the social science special research project of Sichuan agricultural University “research on innovation of modern urban agricultural development mode” (035/03571600).

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.655860/full#supplementary-material

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What it’s like living in Los Angeles and why you should visit

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What it's like to live in Los Angeles. Photo / Venti Views on Unsplash

On paper, Los Angeles doesn’t always sound as sparkly as its ‘Tinseltown’ moniker, but living there completely changed my perception of the city - and not in a bad way, writes Ben West

When my ex-partner, filmmaker Andrea Arnold, decided to direct the second series of HBO blockbuster Big Little Lies , which would take nearly a year of filming in Los Angeles, my enthusiasm for this new chapter was tempered by trepidation.

On paper, LA seems horrendous: endless traffic jams, tacky theme parks, pretty expensive, the worst pollution in America .

READ MORE: Planning a trip to California, US: What to do in LA for first-timers

However, the more time I spent there, the more I appreciated what a hugely diverse city it is: majestic deserted canyons, wonderful beaches and national parks. And if you want crazy nightlife, swanky lunch venues, hugely different neighbourhoods, star gazing (both at famous Griffith Park Observatory and the Hollywood film variety), it is all there.

So, let’s get started.

Where to find LA’s best beaches

Los Angeles is well known for its beaches at Venice and Santa Monica, but there are numerous other beaches along the coastline away from the city that are often far less crowded. If you have a car, lazy days hanging out at the beaches of Malibu, such as Zuma Beach, Point Dume State Beach and at Paradise Cove, which has a kitschy cafe, make for a delightful day.

Will Rogers State Beach in the Pacific Palisades district has showers, a cafe, sand volleyball courts and a bike /walking path, and you might spot dolphins or an orca whale if you’re lucky.

Just away from the bustling boardwalk, surfers, tacky tourist shops and restaurants of Venice Beach is a small series of tranquil, attractive canals that see far fewer visitors and are ideal for strolling along. Created in the 1900s, the Venice Beach Canals are lined by homes in a diverse range of architectural styles.

No one knows LA is a hiking mecca

The city may conjure images of multi-lane highways - of which there are many - but it is surprising the wealth of good walks there are available to you here. While walking in the centre can be difficult sometimes - there’s even an absence of pavements in some places - there’s a rich choice as you move to outlying areas.

My favourite walk is the Lower Canyonback Trail in the Santa Monica mountains . It has lovely mountain and ocean views and starts from the end of North Kenter Avenue, just off Hanley Avenue in the Brentwood neighbourhood. On Google Maps it is called the Whoops Trailhead. There are numerous trails leading from the main one, hillier and flatter paths, and also a circular walk. You often have the place pretty much to yourself and I’ve seen rattlesnakes and coyotes here, but they kept away, thankfully.

Runyon Canyon Park extends over 64 hectares, and has well-marked trails, with great views of the city as well as the Hollywood sign, Griffith Park and Santa Monica Bay. The 190-acre Eaton Canyon nature reserve at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains is another good choice, with miles of trails.

If you walk on one of the many trails at Griffith Park you have the option of visiting the Art Deco Griffith Park Observatory, which was featured in La La Land.

Top tip: The three-mile Mount Hollywood Trail provides great views of the Hollywood sign.

Explore a variety of neighbourhoods

Taxis and Ubers and similar are comparatively cheap in LA, which is ideal for discovering the diverse range of neighbourhoods here. Of course, Hollywood is the most famous, but lesser-known ones like Los Feliz next door are worth checking out. It’s a relaxed hillside enclave with cafes, restaurants and boutiques, and homes designed by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra.

Downtown is a heady mix, with the affluent Financial District rubbing shoulders with the grittiness of the homeless around Skid Row. There are plenty of sights such as the Museum of Contemporary Art , Union Station and Grand Central Market, and numerous old theatres.

Having walked past someone clearly in need of plentiful medical help, pushing a shopping trolley with all their worldly possessions and off their head on drugs around Skid Row, it’s difficult to believe you’re in the same city when you hit the swanky designer shops of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, or the leafy streets lined with celebrity mansions of Bel Air.

But that’s the wonder of Los Angeles, there is something completely different just around the corner.

Best places to go for celebrity spotting

If you think you’ll spot the likes of Nicole Kidman or Brat Pitt at one of these big LA mansions, you’re likely to be disappointed, as many of them are fenced with long driveways. However, if you hang out at places like Rodeo Drive, the expensive, highly rated restaurants, Malibu Country Mart, the lounges and bars of top hotels like Hotel Bel Air and the Beverly Hills Hotel, you’ll certainly up your chances. I was having lunch at Brentwood Country Mart one Sunday, and Kate Hudson and her mother Goldie Hawn walked past. However, it was unpleasant to see the paparazzi intrusion that followed. They just wanted to look at clothes in a boutique, but the gaggle of cameras and uber-aggressive photographers was unpleasant to be around.

However, that was just another diverse, unforgettable experience in one of the most exciting cities on Earth.

LOS ANGELES

GETTING THERE

Fly non-stop from Auckland to Los Angeles with Air NZ, in approx. 12 hours.

https://www.visitcalifornia.com/

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Trust, more than knowledge, critical for acceptance of fully autonomous vehicles

While not yet on the market, fully autonomous vehicles are promoted as a way to make road travel dramatically safer, but a recent study found that knowing more about them did not improve people's perception of their risk. They needed to have more trust in them too.

This study adds to the evidence from other research that knowledge alone is not enough to sway people's attitudes toward complex technology and science, such as gene editing or climate change. In this case, Washington State University researchers found that trust in the autonomous vehicles' reliability and performance played the strongest role in improving perceptions of the technology's risk.

That may be critical to whether this technology will ever be realized, said Kathryn Robinson-Tay, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Risk Research .

"Autonomous vehicles are such consumer-oriented products. Whether they are used or not is really dependent on whether people will buy them," said Robinson-Tay, a doctoral student in WSU's Murrow College of Communication. "We found there was no significant relationship between people's knowledge and their risk perceptions of autonomous vehicles -- without the mediation of trust."

While some cars with autonomous features, like Tesla's adaptive cruise control, are on the roads now, fully driverless vehicles are not yet available. By some estimates, if they do become available, they could improve traffic safety by 90%. But that likely depends on their wide-adoption, and currently, perceptions of their safety are very low. A 2022 Pew Research poll showed 44% of Americans have a negative view of autonomous vehicles.

For this study, Robinson-Tay and her advising professor Wei Peng conducted a representative, cross-sectional survey of 323 adults in the U.S. using Census-based quotas for age, gender and race to ensure a diverse sample. The participants answered questions about their knowledge and perceptions of autonomous vehicles and their risk. While trust emerged as the most influential factor, people's desire to experience using fully autonomous vehicles also indirectly led to improved perceptions of risk.

The fact that fully autonomous vehicles are not yet available even to try out may be part of the problem, but their very autonomous nature may also hinder their acceptance, said Peng, a WSU communications researcher.

"It's basic psychology that people want to interact with the things they use. They want to control them through physical touch. With fully autonomous vehicles, you do not need to touch them, so people may feel they are very risky or unsafe," he said.

News reports about accidents with partially autonomous vehicles has also likely hurt perceptions, the researchers said.

"Accidents happen all the time on the road every day, but people tend to overestimate the risk of something that's new, or that they're less familiar with," Peng said.

Regardless, this study's findings point to the need to build trust with the public if fully autonomous vehicles are to ever take to the roads.

"Proponents should do their best to communicate the benefits, and the risks, of autonomous vehicles in an effort to increase both knowledge and trust," said Robinson-Tay. "It's really important to communicate as honestly as possible so people can have a balanced understanding of what they're exactly getting into with purchasing one."

• Racial Issues
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Story Source:

Materials provided by Washington State University . Original written by Sara Zaske. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Kathryn Robinson-Tay, Wei Peng. The role of knowledge and trust in developing risk perceptions of autonomous vehicles: a moderated mediation model . Journal of Risk Research , 2024; 1 DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2024.2360923

Cite This Page :

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Trust, more than knowledge, critical for acceptance of fully autonomous vehicles

PULLMAN, Wash. — While not yet on the market, fully autonomous vehicles are promoted as a way to make road travel dramatically safer, but a recent study found that knowing more about them did not improve people’s perception of their risk. They needed to have more trust in them too.

This study adds to the evidence from other research that knowledge alone is not enough to sway people’s attitudes toward complex technology and science, such as gene editing or climate change. In this case, Washington State University researchers found that trust in the autonomous vehicles’ reliability and performance played the strongest role in improving perceptions of the technology’s risk.

That may be critical to whether this technology will ever be realized, said Kathryn Robinson-Tay, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Risk Research .

“Autonomous vehicles are such consumer-oriented products. Whether they are used or not is really dependent on whether people will buy them,” said Robinson-Tay, a doctoral student in WSU’s Murrow College of Communication. “We found there was no significant relationship between people’s knowledge and their risk perceptions of autonomous vehicles — without the mediation of trust.”

While some cars with autonomous features, like Tesla’s adaptive cruise control, are on the roads now, fully driverless vehicles are not yet available. By some estimates, if they do become available, they could improve traffic safety by 90%. But that likely depends on their wide-adoption, and currently, perceptions of their safety are very low. A 2022 Pew Research poll showed 44% of Americans have a negative view of autonomous vehicles.

For this study, Robinson-Tay and her advising professor Wei Peng conducted a representative, cross-sectional survey of 323 adults in the U.S. using Census-based quotas for age, gender and race to ensure a diverse sample. The participants answered questions about their knowledge and perceptions of autonomous vehicles and their risk. While trust emerged as the most influential factor, people’s desire to experience using fully autonomous vehicles also indirectly led to improved perceptions of risk.

The fact that fully autonomous vehicles are not yet available even to try out may be part of the problem, but their very autonomous nature may also hinder their acceptance, said Peng, a WSU communications researcher.

“It’s basic psychology that people want to interact with the things they use. They want to control them through physical touch. With fully autonomous vehicles, you do not need to touch them, so people may feel they are very risky or unsafe,” he said.  

News reports about accidents with partially autonomous vehicles has also likely hurt perceptions, the researchers said.

“Accidents happen all the time on the road every day, but people tend to overestimate the risk of something that’s new, or that they’re less familiar with,” Peng said.

Regardless, this study’s findings point to the need to build trust with the public if fully autonomous vehicles are to ever take to the roads.

“Proponents should do their best to communicate the benefits, and the risks, of autonomous vehicles in an effort to increase both knowledge and trust,” said Robinson-Tay. “It’s really important to communicate as honestly as possible so people can have a balanced understanding of what they’re exactly getting into with purchasing one.”

Media Contacts

• Kathryn Robinson-Tay , WSU Murrow College of Communication , [email protected]
• Wei Peng , WSU Murrow College of Communication , [email protected]
• Sara Zaske , WSU News & Media Relations , 509-335-4846 , [email protected]

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Hurricane Beryl tracker: Storm makes landfall in Texas, see spaghetti models, path

Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 near Matagorda, Texas early Monday morning.

The storm made landfall 110 miles south of Houston.

The state faces 75 mph winds and life-threatening storm surge. Heavy rainfall, and flash and urban flooding are expected to impact the eastern part of the state, according to the National Hurricane Center .

A tornado watch will remain in effect for southeastern Texas until 10 a.m. local time, states the National Weather Service .

Beryl is now a tropical depression: Track storm's projected path, spaghetti models, latest details

Where will the storm go?

The storm is moving 12 mph north. The following areas can expect to see 3-5 inches of rain tonight into Tuesday:

• Southeast Oklahoma
• Southern Missouri

Live updates: Forecasters fear Beryl will rapidly strengthen as it heads for Texas

Hurricane Beryl path tracker

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Hurricane Beryl spaghetti models

Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.

Atlantic storm tracker

Contributing: Anthony Robledo, Gabe Hauari ,  N'Dea Yance-Bragg, Susan Miller, John Bacon, Jorge L. Ortiz, Dinah Voyles Pulver & Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY; Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY-Network Florida