Abstract
Purpose
There is little knowledge to date regarding the influence of the COVID-19 health crisis on tourists' intention to travel differently in the future. This paper addresses this and explores its determinants. The objective of the present study is to determine to what extent the Spanish tourists affected by COVID-19 may change the way they travel in the future, according to the perceived risk of travel in a pandemic context.
Design/methodology/approach
Between May and June 2020, the authors conducted a survey with a sample population of Spanish tourists who were resident in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic, for the purposes of studying the role of attitudes and risk in the intention to change the way they want to travel in the future. Cluster analysis and one-way ANOVA were conducted to assess differences among the respondents. Finally, some models were built using the linear regression technique in order to evaluate the role of attitudes in the tourists' adaptive response to the perceived risk of travel.
Findings
Results confirm the formation of a new way of life influencing tourists' intentions to travel more sustainably. Accordingly, tourists with a previous environmental attitude are less interested in visiting mass tourism beach destinations in the future. However, changes in the way some tourists travel can also be read as an adaptive and temporary response to the perceived risk of contracting the disease, and do not point to a reduction of the vital importance of tourism in their lives.
Research limitations/implications
The exploratory nature of the study and the lack of similar international analyses does not allow the authors to contrast its results at a global level, though it offers a starting point for future research in other countries. There are also methodological limitations, since the field work was carried out between the first and second waves of the disease, at a time when the pandemic was in remission, possibly affecting the orientation of some responses, given the desire to recover normalcy and “normal” travel, and this may have influenced the priority given to tourism.
Social implications
This study gives new insights into the debate on the social transformation of the collective consciousness. Despite some signs of change, part of the Spanish tourists are still anchored in traditional tourism practices embedded in cultural factors, which can hinder sustainability in the Spanish tourism industry. The experience of the COVID-19 crisis has not been sufficient to change the declared travel habits of Spanish tourists. Therefore, progress towards the definition of a new tourism system that implies the effective transformation of demand will require applying policies and promoting institutional innovation and education to create paths that facilitate transformative experiences.
Originality/value
The study is focused on the analysis of the relationship between attitudes and risk perception, including novel elements that enrich the academic debate on social progress in the transformation of tourism and the possibilities of promoting a reset from the demand side. Moreover, it incorporates, for the first time, the COVID-19 as it was experienced as an explanatory variable to analyse the changing travel attitudes in a post-COVID-19 era. The analysis of the psychosocial mechanisms of risk offers a good opportunity for a better assessment of post-pandemic demand risk perception. Finally, the study offers empirical evidence on how Spanish tourists are reimagining their next and future holidays, which can be highly valuable for destination managers.
Keywords
Citation
González-Reverté, F., Gomis-López, J.M. and Díaz-Luque, P. (2022), "Reset or temporary break? Attitudinal change, risk perception and future travel intention in tourists experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic", Journal of Tourism Futures, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-03-2021-0079
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Francesc González-Reverté, Joan Miquel Gomis-López, Pablo Díaz-Luque
License
Published in Journal of Tourism Futures. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode.
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic is probably the most important challenge currently facing humanity. Its appearance has been linked to the direct result of space-time compression (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020), and interpreted as a recent manifestation of modernization and the neoliberal globalization process (Harvey, 1990). As the planet becomes socially and economically smaller, socially transmitted diseases such as the COVID-19 coronavirus are transmitted more rapidly and over larger areas than before. Tourism is an economic activity that requires mobility and social contact, and the very high volume of movements it generates on a global scale has contributed to the spread of the disease. It is also among the worst affected economic sectors (Gössling et al., 2020). As the disease has spread around the world, mobility and travel restrictions have become the norm in many countries. The impact of the slowdown caused by these restrictions has served to demonstrate the fragility of the rapid growth model on which tourism has been based so far, and to debunk the supposed advantages of globalization, aspects that are revealed within the framework of the need for global economic change (Ioannides and Gyimóthy, 2020). In academia, there have been calls for a change in the global tourism system oriented towards the achievement of global sustainability objectives instead of growth that benefits only the few.
A collective conscience promoting sustainability and tourism degrowth is entering the debate. Although some authors are sceptical as to the degree to which the inherited forces and inertias of the tourism system will allow significant change in this direction and argue that any transformation of the tourism system will be extremely difficult to achieve, it has also been suggested that COVID-19 may drive transformation at the level of the individual (Hall et al., 2020). However, very little is known about the concrete effects of COVID-19 on the personal lifeworld of individuals and whether this will eventually translate into a shift in collective consciousness. Nor do we yet know the repercussions of this possible transformation for how tourism will be conducted in the post-COVID-19 era. The COVID-19 pandemic is considered a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all the inhabitants of the planet, and one which may result in the expansion of awareness of global change (Sheldon, 2020). This new global mindset may be transmitted depending on several factors such as communication channels (Hsiao and Tseng, 2011), education systems, the media, and family, friends and personal relationship networks (Galvani et al., 2020); nevertheless, it is believed that it will affect the way people travel. Studies have been conducted on the resilience capacity of tourist destinations in epidemic crises, though little is known about the reaction of demand and to what extent personal experience of COVID-19 may affect future travel behaviour (Ivanova et al., 2021; Peters et al., 2020; Bratic et al., 2021).
Based on the considerations proposed in the conceptual framework of a “transformative turn” in tourism, the objective of the present study is to determine to what extent the Spanish tourists affected by COVID-19 may change the way they travel in the future, according to the perceived risk of travel in a pandemic context. In connection with this objective, we also analyse the tourists' attitudinal change in a post-pandemic scenario. To do that, we will take into account how tourists' attitudes to future travel are influenced by factors such as the risk of travelling in a pandemic, their personal experience of COVID-19, and the tourists' environmental attitudes.
A sample of 496 Spanish tourists, gathered with the aim of making an empirical contribution to the study of tourists' changing intentions after experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, was used to identify how the pandemic is changing the priority of tourism in people's lives, to identify changing features when travelling to mass tourism beach destinations (related to travel distance, frequency, budget and safety issues) and to determine the influence of their environmental attitude on a more sustainable travel pattern in the future. With this background, this paper focuses on the role and importance of individual attitudes in the positive or negative evaluation of perceived risk and the evaluation of how this risk is associated with the intention to travel differently in the future.
The future intention of tourists to visit mass tourism beach destinations was then tested. The results indicate that prior individual attitudes influence perceived risk and that perceived risk acts as a driver of future travel intentions and travel preferences. Three different profiles of tourists were identified, according to their adaptive strategy towards risk: (1) tourists who perceived visiting mass tourism destinations as highly risky, (2) tourists who perceived only a temporary risk visiting these destinations; and (3) tourists who perceived low risk visiting these destinations.
In the discussion section, we examine the main differences between the three groups of tourists, and their potential effect on the raising of awareness of the need for an eventual collective transformation of tourism from the point of view of demand. Identifying changes in travel intention to visit mass tourism beach destinations, as a result of the attitudinal change towards risk during a global health crisis, allows us to make practical recommendations to managers of tourist destinations and businesses on how to approach their planning and marketing according to responsibility and sustainability criteria in a post-COVID scenario.
Literature review
The COVID-19 pandemic as a driver of critical alternatives for the transformation of the global tourism system
Diseases and epidemics have always had the ability to transform societies, due to their demographic effects as well as their impact on productive systems, lifestyles (Morens et al., 2009) and even worldviews. In the recent past, tourism has been especially sensitive to epidemics (SARS, MERS, etc.), which have had economic effects and reduced the volume of international tourist arrivals with varying degrees of significance (Burns et al., 2006). Pandemics have been on the rise in the 21st century, and this has been interpreted by the increase in globalization and global change processes, of which tourism is the driving force (Allen et al., 2017; Wallace et al., 2018). Among the factors with the greatest incidence in the appearance and spread of epidemics are the increased population concentration and density that accompanies the urbanization process (Connolly et al., 2020), increased mobility of the world's population, greater interconnection between urban centres as a result of improved transport connectivity (Hufnagel et al., 2004), development of global transport networks that act as transmission vectors for pathogens, loss of biodiversity in many natural environments bringing animals and humans into ever closer contact (Pongsiri et al., 2009), and increased meat consumption and production (Labonte et al., 2011). In addition, some indications suggest that the impact of climate change will contribute to increasing the frequency of pandemics and disease outbreaks in the coming years (Ebi et al., 2017; Kavanagh et al., 2019).
Although the resilience of tourism to external forces such as disease or economic crisis is very high (Broud and Saarinen, 2019), the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the tourism sector is unprecedented (Gössling et al., 2020). At the time of writing this paper, the COVID-19 pandemic had infected 110 million people and produced 2.4 million deaths (Center for Systems Science and Engineering, 2020) and the different waves of the disease had generated numerous international, regional and local restrictions, harming national economies and affecting all parts of the value chain of the tourism and transport sector.
Initial studies of the impact on the tourism sector carried out during the first wave of the pandemic spoke of devastating effects on tourism as a whole, especially in the air transport, cruise and accommodation sectors. The UNWTO suggested a decrease in international tourism arrivals of between 20 and 30% in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, and calculated a drop of 70% between the months of January and August 2020 (UNWTO, 2020).
In recent decades, tourism research has included new perspectives derived from what is known as the critical approach to social science research (Ateljevic et al., 2005; Bianchi, 2009; Tribe, 2008). Understanding of the tourism phenomenon and its relationship and interaction with society from critical perspectives raises a new interpretive framework of reality which questions the notion that the social context of tourism has evolved “naturally” and suggests that, on the contrary, it is a social construction (Bramwell and Lane, 2014). Social processes such as tourism must also be analysed from the incorporation of subjective dimensions that allow understanding of different points of view, worldviews and practices derived from the lived experience, values and beliefs of individuals. In fact, without taking into account these subjective elements, such as way of life, perceptions, discourses or life perspectives, which allow identifying social processes based on personal trajectories, it is not possible to broaden our gaze towards alternative visions of development (Blomley, 2006). This critical perspective is also crucial to understanding personal reactions and lifestyle changes in times of global crisis such as that produced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite widespread acknowledgement that, as soon as the virus is controlled, activity will resurface strongly, it is also believed that the crisis has generated lessons on the resilience and vulnerability of the tourism system, conveying a clear message regarding future crises with the potential to be even more devastating than COVID-19, such as those associated with climate change. From this point of view, the starting point of the post-COVID-19 recovery should not be framed as a return to “business as usual”, but rather as an opportunity to do things differently, and to rethink the global tourism system in line with sustainability objectives (Gössling et al., 2020). This will require knowledge of tourism demand behaviour during and after the pandemic, and this is the focus of our study.
Towards a new collective consciousness in tourism?
Given the important economic and social effect of pandemics on tourism, it is critical to analyse the extent to which tourist destinations are prepared to deal with changes in demand resulting from fear of travel in the aftermath of an epidemic crisis. From a critical perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic has been interpreted as an element of transition to sustainability that is generating new sensitivities among the population, which suggests new scenarios for understanding tourism. The effect of the crisis on our vision of the world may induce individuals to turn their backs on the selfish, consumerist perspective, and conceive tourism as a transformative social force rather than a market opportunity (Benjamin et al., 2020). Other authors believe that the COVID-19 crisis expands the global consciousness of humanity, helping to make people understand that we are global beings who must act beyond our own particular interests, overcome the disease in co-responsibility, and change the world from a shared common fund (Galvani et al., 2020). The transition towards sustainability is occurring to the extent that resilience and the mobilization of adaptive capacities after the crisis episode generate spaces for transformation and create opportunities to reconsider certain practices (Ioannides and Gyimóthy, 2020). The effects of behavioural change and the creation of new regulations will have transformative consequences for the tourism sector, since the requirements of more locally-oriented and environmentally aware tourists will have to be taken into account. The evolutionary path of transformation in tourism (reset) will be possible if institutional innovation drives changes in both supply and demand (Brouder, 2020).
The changing mental framework towards sustainability in individuals is associated with the presence of three dimensions: ethics, consumption, and risk. The ethical dimension incorporates elements of social justice that confront preconceived ideas and respond to neoliberal principles in the way we understand the world and conduct tourism. The COVID-19 crisis is making us rethink our notion of globalization as an unstoppable force, the impossibility of detaching ourselves from the logic of continued growth, and the inescapable link between identity and consumption or capitalism as the most efficient system of managing resources (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020). The incorporation of plural worldviews and new relational ways of being can displace instrumental thinking and modern values of market-led economic growth and embrace alternative ways of understanding and managing global problems such as climate change or overtourism (Jamal, 2019). The progressive emergence of a collective conscience also passes through attitudes of individual responsibility towards the protection of the planet that affect consumption.
Environmental attitudes have been identified as one of the factors capable of bringing about decisive changes in individuals in the transition towards a sustainable society (Hedlund-de Witt et al., 2014; Passafaro, 2020; Prillwitz and Barr, 2011). Attitudes are extremely important determinants of environmental behaviour that can drive diffusive effects on personal choices in various aspects of personal life (Thogersen and Olander, 2003). In tourism, general environmental attitudes can act on individual decisions to consume sustainable products in a number of ways. The effects of attitudes on consumption decisions can vary according to several conditioning elements, such as the influence of past experiences with respect to the individual's social and physical environment (Miller, 2005), personal characteristics (Hepler and Albarracín, 2014), and training and education (Kaiser and Fuhrer, 2003). The fear associated with travelling caused by health crises such as the coronavirus pandemic can leave deep-seated impressions that affect the way people think and feel (Zenker and Kock, 2020; Gössling et al., 2020) and produce a psychological effect of fear of travelling that decreases motivation to travel or increases travel risk prevention and the adoption of self-imposed protective measures (Zheng et al., 2021).
Potential changes in travel demand have been interpreted from different conceptual perspectives on the reduction of interest in travelling in times of epidemiological crisis. These perspectives, related to perceived risk, include the variation in the material conditions and economic well-being of individuals and the consequent effect on consumption, the widespread restrictions imposed, and the natural tendency of people to avoid contracting the infection in epidemic times. Among the adaptive responses that condition human behaviour to avoid infection are aversion to travel (Brunei and Wilson, 2020) and the establishment of psychosocial mechanisms by tourists to avoid contracting the disease when they do decide to travel: the perceived risk associated with health care in the destination area (Jonas et al., 2011), the assessment of personal vulnerability to the disease (Wang et al., 2019), the generation of self-protective behaviour mechanisms by the tourist to limit the risk of infection (Kuo et al., 2008), and the assessment of the health security risk involved (Mertzanis and Papasthopoulos, 2021).
A number of studies have found that tourists have adopted measures during the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid the risk of contracting the disease (Kock et al., 2020; Zenker and Kock, 2020). The pathogenic threat indicates that adaptive strategies to avoid risk may take place at three levels. In the first place, the presence of a disease encourages ethnocentric attitudes that favour intragroup relationships and collectivism as a way to avoid health risk and facilitate support for individuals in the group who contract the disease (Navarrete and Fessler, 2006), as well as attitudes associated with tourist ethnocentrism, or a preference for travelling to nearby as opposed to distant destinations (Kock et al., 2019). Second, the activation of the behavioural immune system increases the negative perception of congestion and densely populated situations as involving a high risk of contagion, resulting in tourists preferring to holiday in remote, sparsely populated places (Wang and Ackerman, 2019). Third, the pathogenic threat generates fear of the unknown to avoid contagion with external groups perceived as potential carriers of disease in what has been defined as tourist xenophobia, that is, the perception of discomfort and anxiety associated with encountering strangers in foreign surroundings (Kock et al., 2019).
Individual attitudes are considered general drivers of tourists' intention to change the way they travel (affecting aspects such as the frequency of travel, their travel budget or the maximum travel distance to destinations, and especially the preference given to safety concerns when choosing a destination, accommodation and mobility, or prioritising sustainable tourism products). Attitudes are also analysed here as factors influencing how risk perception leads to projected changes in travel to specific tourist places, such as beach destinations. Thus, we consider that changes in the intention to travel in the future are influenced by individual attitudes and are mediated through risk perception, as an adaptive response to crisis scenarios (see Figure 1).
Methodology
Data collection
The collection of first-hand data was deemed a prerequisite for the fulfilment of the above-stated research objectives, and a quantitative approach was therefore chosen for the study. Between May and June 2020, we conducted a survey with a sample population of individuals who were resident in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic and had undertaken at least one travel trip in the years 2018 and/or 2019, for the purposes of studying the role of COVID-19 in the adoption of new travel patterns among Spanish tourists. A travel trip is defined here both as an international trip away from Spain and as a domestic trip requiring an overnight stay. The selection criteria included a maximum travelling time lapse (people who have undertaken a recent trip during the last two years) with the hope that the experience would still be fresh in their minds, thus facilitating responses which help to identify future attitudes when asked about features of those trips. The survey was conducted via the internet, and the questionnaire was disseminated online, mainly through Facebook, and the sample was collected at random. Of the 505 respondents, 9 were excluded on the basis that they either did not travel or had failed to complete the questionnaire correctly; 496 valid responses were finally obtained. Based on a review of the literature, a questionnaire was created to obtain information for the purpose of identifying the factors that condition behavioural change in tourists during episodes of health crisis (see Table 1). The questionnaire opened with a paragraph informing the respondents of the characteristics and objectives of the study and the anonymous nature of the responses, and respondents were provided with an email address to which they could direct their questions, as well as recommended procedures for improving the reliability of the survey (Malhotra, 2008). The questionnaire was divided into four main sections in which the respondents were asked to respond to a number of statements according to a five-point Likert scale (with the exception of the last block of questions). The possible responses were as follows: (1) Totally disagree; (2) Disagree; (3) Neither agree nor disagree; (4) Agree; and (5) Totally agree. The first section included questions about the respondent's personal experience with the disease and degree of personal, economic, psychological and health affectation, as well as questions about the impact of the pandemic on their vision of the world and way of life. The second section included questions about environmental concerns, to obtain information on the respondent's environmental attitudes. The questions in the third section aimed to determine the respondent's predisposition to change the way they travelled post-COVID-19 and related to various aspects of travel preferences. The last section of the questionnaire contained questions about the respondent's sociodemographic characteristics and the way in which they usually organize their tourist trips.
Measurements
Following the proposed conceptual framework, a construct of personal change related to the pandemic experience was built with the aim of analysing the influence of the pandemic crisis on behavioural change in tourists. The personal transformation construct includes variables related to environmental attitude and perceived risk of travel during a pandemic. The inclusion of personal environmental values was designed to link the respondent's ecological sensibilities to their travel behaviour, especially in relation to the selection of sustainable tourism products and services. Variables from the “New Ecological Paradigm” (NEP) scale developed by Dunlap et al. were used (Dunlap et al., 2000). Although this scale has been used in numerous previous tourism studies, to the authors' knowledge it has never been used to analyse the effects of pandemics on tourism behaviour until the development of this questionnaire in 2020. To shorten the scale, five variables were used, according to their level of correlation. The literature on destinations indicates that perceived travel risk after a pandemic cannot be measured with a single scale, despite the existence of generic studies on travel risk and anxiety (Reisinger and Mavondo, 2005). Nevertheless, four variables were chosen to study the respondent's perception of health security and risk of social contact. Finally, three additional variables related to world understanding, travel experiences during the pandemic and personal lifeworld were introduced. It is believed that both the perception of risk and the attitudes derived from the individual's personal lifeworld are relevant to explaining the behaviour of tourists in times of health crisis.
Data analysis
Descriptive analysis was conducted to describe the participant's demographic profile as well as their general travel behaviour response to the COVID-19 pandemic episode. To define sample segments with reference to attitudes, we combined factor and cluster analysis. In a first step, based on 14 statements regarding attitudes towards certain travel risks, environmental attitude and personal experience with the COVID-19 pandemic, a preliminary principal component analysis was conducted to integrate attitudinal statements into a few groups and to establish the most reliable factorial solutions. Factor extraction was carried out with maximum likelihood, and for multi factor structures, a preliminary Oblimin rotation was run to test for any correlation between factors. When a correlation was <0.20, a Varimax rotation for orthogonal factors was run to obtain a simple structure. This method was chosen as a suitable analytical tool to test between factors. Items loading <35 in any of the factors or presenting high factor loadings in more than one factor were eliminated. A five-factor solution was obtained, each factor containing between two and four attitudinal statements, with factor eigenvalues greater than 1 and accounting for 65.5% of the total variance. The factor analysis exhibited a KMO measure of sampling adequacy of 0.753, which was considered satisfactory; and the construct validity (all factor loadings, except one, were greater than 0.500). Cronbach's alpha was then calculated to test factor reliability: items showing a lower inter-correlation with the factor or which consistently lowered the Alpha index were also eliminated. The scales used show good internal consistency, as the Cronbach's alpha index ranged from 0.80 to 0.83 (see Table 2).
The first factor was named “new environmentalism concern attitude” (23.1% of the total variance) and includes five variables that express a generic concern for the state of the environment, which requires a personal or collective response. This environmental attitude is linked to the feeling of the fragility of the planet, the immediate risk associated with climate change and involves a transformative and active environmental vision. The second factor, named “environmental travel attitude” (13.9% of the total variance) includes three variables that express how environmental concern is translated into changing travel intentions towards more environmentally friendly and sustainable tourism. The third factor, named “human exceptionality and techno-optimism attitude” (8.9% of the total variance) includes four variables that express scepticism about the risks associated with global environmental changes and the superiority of the human race. The fourth factor, named “COVID-19 worldview attitude” (6.5% of the total variance) includes three variables that express the intention to change the way of living and travelling as a result of having experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the fifth factor, named “COVID-19 personal experience attitude” (5.6% of the variance), includes two variables that express the personal impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on individuals, both economically and psychologically. Considered together, the five factors express different attitudinal dimensions that can condition the way tourists will live and travel in the future. The factors suggest that both global attitudes and personal experiences in times of health crises affect the way that tourists understand or interpret the world.
In order to understand how future changes in tourists' travel intentions in a pandemic context are driven, the concept of risk is used here. In this study, the perceived risk is considered to be associated with travel attitudes in two ways. On the one hand, environmental attitudes are considered to be related to the perceived risk based on the fear that certain forms of travel may contribute to the degradation of the planet. On the other hand, attitudes derived from personal contact with COVID-19 are considered to be related to perceived risk because they increase or decrease the fear of contracting the disease during holidays.
In the next step, the set of 5 factors was reduced and used to segment the sample into three different attitudinal clusters. These clusters were sorted and named according to their degree of connection with an environmental attitude and related to the personal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, a one-way ANOVA technique was used to examine the differences between the three groups of tourists in their intention to change their way of travel and their intention to visit mass beach destinations in the future. Finally, five regression models were carried out to assess the association between attitudes and risk of travel in a pandemic context. The models show that previous personal attitudes act as a predictor of risk-driven changes in the way tourists travel in the future.
Findings and discussion
Descriptive analysis
The respondents were resident in Spain; 33.7% were men and 66.3% were women, mostly falling into the 35–45 and 46–54 age groups (34.9 and 25.8%, respectively). Most of the respondents had an intermediate level of education: 53.5% had completed secondary education, while 33% were graduates (33.0%). At the time of the survey, 79.0% of the people surveyed were working, while 21.0% either did not work or were unemployed; 37.9% of the respondents described themselves as left-wing (see Table 3).
The descriptive analysis of the variables that enable us to determine the impact and personal experience of COVID-19 indicate that the majority of individuals had little direct relationship with the disease (M = 2.68 and SD = 1.40), and a moderate knowledge of cases of distant acquaintances (M = 03.33 and SD = 1.41). However, the disease had a significant economic (M = 3.78 and SD = 1.21) and psychological (M = 3.66 and SD = 1.17) impact on the respondents, whose vision of the world changed (M = 3.72 and SD = 01.05), as did their intention to travel differently in the future, although somewhat less so (M = 3.14 and SD = 01.15). Finally, the respondents affirmed that tourism was still a basic priority in their lives (M = 3.68 and SD = 1.13), that they would not travel less than before the health crisis (M = 02,21 and SD = 01,06), and would not spend less money on travel (M = 2.41 and SD = 01.11). However, they also indicated that in the future they would change their travel behaviour in certain aspects such as giving weight to health security criteria in their choice of destination (M = 4.20 and SD = 0.92), choosing destinations and products perceived as sustainable (M = 3.94 and SD = 0.84), staying in small establishments (M = 3.34 and SD = 0.95), travelling closer to home (M = 3.22 and SD = 01.16), going to highly frequented tourist sites (M = 02.45 and SD = 0.94), and using public transport to access tourist destinations (M = 3.13 and SD = 01.02).
Attitudinal segmentation
The main instrument for the segmentation of tourists' attitudes was a cluster analysis based on general environmental concerns, specific environmental travel concerns, and COVID-19 attitudinal change in the personal sphere. Three clusters, each with a clearly differentiated attitude, were identified (see Table 4). The first group was named “sceptical tourists”. These tourists show an intention to continue with their previous travelling habits. This group is also characterised by having suffered the economic impacts of COVID-19, but not the psychological impacts. Despite increasing global environmental concern after experiencing the pandemic, their future travel intention remains mainly unchanged, and they do not intend to take into account health risk criteria or the existence of sustainable products and services as a condition when choosing a holiday destination in the future. The second group was named “pragmatic tourists”. This group is strongly concerned about the environment and they have experienced few personal impacts during COVID-19. Tourists in this group intend to follow strict risk prevention measures when choosing a tourist destination in the future, but they do not intend to change their way of life substantially in the long term. The third group of tourists was named “concerned tourists”. This group has a higher level of environmental sensitivity and suffered a severe negative personal experience with COVID-19. Concerned tourists express their intention to substantially change the way they live and travel, and they also want to reduce health risks and take sustainability criteria into account in their future travels.
Comparison of cluster characteristics in terms of socio-demographic factors, tested using Pearson Chi-square tests, revealed only small statistically significant differences between the segments. Age, education, ideology and travel preferences were variables that generated significant behavioural differences among the respondents (see Table 5). The younger people accorded greater priority given to tourism after COVID-19 than the older people (F = 4.67, p < 0.001), and those who tended to visit mass tourism destinations accorded greater importance to tourism in their lives than those who visited these destinations less (F = 7.95, p < 0.000). On the other hand, no significant differences were observed regarding the changes brought by the pandemic in the personal lifeworld of those surveyed. The graduates were more inclined to change the way they travelled in the future compared to the respondents with secondary education (M = 3.81 vs 2.71). The respondents who vote for Green political parties declared a greater intention to change than those who described themselves as left-wing or conservative voters (M = 3.69 vs 3.11 and 3.31, respectively).
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to analyse the differences in the opinions of the three groups of tourists regarding their intention to change the way they live and travel in the future, the intention to take specific measures to avoid risk of getting sick when travelling in a pandemic context, and their intention to visit mass beach destinations in the future. The results indicate that, in contrast to limited differences in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, clear links between attitudes and future travel intention patterns were identified. Therefore, it can be stated that the three groups of tourists respond to very contrasting profiles. Concerned tourists express a stronger intention to change their way of life and travel in the future. These tourists intend to take strong preventive measures to avoid risk when travelling and reject visiting mass tourist beach destinations. They perceive mass beach destinations as risky places, both because of their global impact on the environment and the fear of getting sick when visiting them. In a similar vein, they state that they will travel less frequently (2.935) and to nearby destinations (3.54), their preference for small tourism establishments (3.53) and for destinations offering sustainable products (4.27) (see Table 6).
From a diametrically opposed point of view, sceptical tourists have no intention to change the way they travel in the future and they are the least concerned with taking precautionary measures when traveling in a pandemic context. These tourists do not prefer to travel to nearby destinations (2.67) and do not show much interest in aspects relating to health security (2.74) or sustainability (2.93) when choosing a holiday destination. In addition, they express the strongest intention to visit mass beach destinations in the future (2.77) and give their family and friends the strongest recommendations to visit them (2.69).
Pragmatic tourists show an intention to prevent risk when travelling in a pandemic situation, but they are not interested in changing the way they live and travel in the future in the long term. Thus, tourism still remains a priority in their lives (3.64), and they do not intend to reduce their future travel budget (2.20) nor the frequency of travel (2.11). However, they express a clear intention to strictly follow risk prevention measures when travelling during the pandemic context. For example, they intend to use small accommodation establishments (3.24), and to choose future destinations according to health criteria (4.28) and sustainability products offered (3.83). Furthermore, these tourists have less intention to visit (2.44) and recommend (2.55) mass tourism beach destinations. Given that this group of tourists regularly visited mass beach destinations before the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be hypothesised that they will return once the current risk conditions are over.
The individual's temporal or permanent will to change their lifestyle shown in, respectively, pragmatic and concerned tourists suggests that experience with COVID-19 is accompanied by a process of personal reflection. This is consistent with the results of other studies that indicate that changes in consumer perceptions, preferences and travel attitudes are fundamentally explained by the pandemic (Page et al., 2011; Peters et al., 2020), and suggests that personal experiences during the crisis have had an impact of a magnitude sufficient to provoke a change in the way they think and feel (Zenker and Kock, 2020), with the associated repercussions for the individual's personal lifeworld and maintaining it through what Hollinshead has termed “worldmaking” actions (Hollinshead et al., 2009).
Some of the results referred to concerned and pragmatic tourists– intention to travel less frequently in the future and intention to travel to closer places in the future – suggest that those tourists react by assuming collectivist and ethnocentric attitudes, giving preference to short trips over long-distance travel (Kock et al., 2019). Travelling to nearby places is interpreted as a mechanism to control the otherness and the unknown associated with travel, especially in contexts where cultural and social differences are considerable. This result is consistent with recent studies of travel demand behaviour in Spain (Hosteltur, 2020), which point to greater interest in travel to domestic destinations than long international trips. Disinterest in travel can be explained by the wish to avoid the risk of contracting the disease. Together, these two aspects reveal the existence of a feeling of fear of the unknown interpreted by Kock et al. as an attitude of tourist xenophobia in times of health crisis (Kock et al., 2019). Empirical evidence from other contexts supports the results obtained in our study in the fact that reducing travel distance from home makes tourists feel safer (Enger et al., 2020), but contradicts the increased use of private transport, which in our study has no significance (Ivanova et al., 2021; MMGY Travel Intelligence, 2020). In short, the predisposition of Spanish consumers to travel less and closer to home can be interpreted as a reactive strategy to temporarily reduce their risk of contracting the disease, especially in the case of the pragmatic tourists.
On the other hand, a preference for consuming products and services perceived as sustainable is observed in pragmatics and concerned tourists. In this respect, the results concur with those obtained in other studies that show the influence of attitudes on the consumption of specific forms of sustainable tourism (Huang and Liu, 2017; Lu et al., 2016), and the motivation to carry out sustainable environmental practices (Luo and Deng, 2008; Prillwitz and Barr, 2011).
It is remarkable that sceptical tourists are not concerned about the variables related to evolutionary adaptation to the risk of becoming ill, reducing tourism spending, reducing use of public transport, travel to highly frequented destinations, or staying in small establishments. It is especially interesting that no significant correlation is observable in the intention to use health as selection criteria to select destinations. This approach is consistent with the results of other studies which show that, despite the fact that the pandemic seems to generate concern and uncertainty in multiple aspects of the daily lives, people continue to have a positive attitude to travel and do not express anxiety in doing so (Wachyuni and Kusumaningrum, 2020). From the point of view of destination management and business strategies, this aspect is also interesting, given that one of the most widespread measures in Spain to date to promote tourism recovery and establish safe travel corridors has been to ensure the health security of tourist attractions and accommodation. The results suggest that mass tourism destinations in Spain and the associated forms of accommodation and transportation are perceived as safe for sceptical tourists.
The role of attitudes in the tourists' adaptive response to the perceived risk to travel
To improve understanding of attitudinal influence on the perceived risk of travel, five regression models were carried out using the linear regression technique (see Table 7). In the models, adaptation to risk in different travel situations is examined from a multilevel theoretical perspective and translated to three composite scores obtained from three attitudinal dimensions detected through factor analysis (new environmentalism concern, human exceptionality and techno-optimism attitude, and COVID-19 personal experience attitude).
The model shows that the attitudes based on technological optimism are associated with a lower perceived risk of travel in a pandemic context. This attitude is negatively associated with the risk of disease (for instance, expressing the intention to travel to nearby destinations and taking into account the size of the establishment) and positively associated with high density (travelling to places visited by many tourists). Individual attitudes can be considered a driver for the risk adaptive response in specific groups of tourists. Thus, sceptical tourists do not avoid density, do not take into account the precautionary principle when travelling, and are not very concerned about the risk of getting sick during the holidays. On the other hand, as shown in the case of pragmatic and, especially, concerned tourists, the environmental concern-based attitude is positively related with the risk of disease (safety criteria and lodging in small accommodation facilities) and sustainable consumption of tourist products, and is negatively associated with high density (travel to places where there are many tourists). Finally, the attitudes derived from personal experience with COVID-19 have no causal relationship with the perceived risk.
Discussion
The results of the present study contribute novel empirical elements that enrich the academic debate on social progress in the transformation of tourism and the possibilities of promoting a reset from the demand side. Above all, we can affirm that Spanish tourists are changing the way they travel as a result of a changed vision of the world. Our study results corroborate the belief that personal attitudes can influence the perceived benefits of a certain activity or action. Consequently, in the case of Spanish tourists, individuals who manifest ecocentric positions (concerned and pragmatic tourists) may exhibit a propensity to change in various spheres of life, and their adoption of sustainability criteria may influence their choices (Thogersen and Olander, 2003; Passafaro, 2020).
This suggests a potentiality for a novel travel ethic that demonstrates a certain receptivity to alternatives that require “a systematic overhaul of established institutions, imaginary and modes of living” (Kallis, 2018), such as degrowth; or, as proposed by social tourism, that increase interest in the local aspect of tourism, in response to awareness of the importance of community and social interactions during the pandemic crisis, as well as the fragility and low reliability demonstrated by global tourism (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020). However, the collective generalization of this mentality will be conditional on institutional and supply innovation being powerful enough to drive demand (Brouder, 2020). In fact, there are numerous global and local obstacles to the passage of intention or predisposition to real change in Spanish tourists. These include increased probability of forgetting the effects of the crisis with the passage of time (Farmaki, 2021), relaxation of fear as the population is immunized, and the pressure to return to business as usual exerted by the tourism industry (Hall et al., 2020). It is also interesting to contrast this change in the attitudes towards future travel with the fact, contrasted in this study, that tourism continues to have a high priority in the lives of Spanish tourists, particularly among younger tourists, an aspect that can be linked to the contribution of tourism to quality of life and well-being (Dolnicar et al., 2011).
One interesting contribution of the study is the finding that changes are not associated with personal experience with COVID-19. Contrary to what might be expected, future travel change intention was unaffected among individuals who either had personal experience of the disease or knew people who had. We are unable to establish conclusive explanations for this with the available data, and further research will therefore be needed to determine whether the media and communication context within which the disease has been socially constructed has influenced how it is perceived by Spanish consumers.
The present study shows that temporal adaptation to the risk of illness plays a fundamental role in a pandemic context, especially in tourists characterized by a pragmatic attitude. It will be necessary to continue to analyse whether this effect manifests as a temporary response attitude, as the authors suggest for pragmatic tourists, or is due to a long-term consumption pattern related with environmental attitudes, in the case of concerned tourists. It is interesting to note that, despite the existence of evidence of a predisposition to adopt sustainable consumption patterns, there are also symptoms of continuity with traditional practices such as those related with visiting mass tourism beach destinations. The trust placed in beach destinations as a safe place during pandemics, or the non-existent intention to change to more sustainable travel patterns in the case of sceptical tourists, challenge the view that mass tourism destinations may be the most affected in the short and medium term in the post-COVID-19 future. In terms of Spanish domestic tourism due, we attribute this not only to the popularity and physical proximity of these large resorts with their high concentration of accommodation, but also to the role of second homes in coastal tourist towns and cities, which have made a significant contribution to the building of the Spanish tourism urbanization model (González, 2008) and acted as leisure havens during the “new normal” periods following the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, it must be taken into account that mass tourist destinations continue to be an extremely important leisure option for the population segment with reduced travel budgets, in a context where prices have fallen as a result of the drastic, continuous fall in demand. This analysis of future acceptance of mass tourism destinations needs to be contrasted with further comparative studies in other international contexts. The nature and main features of temporary risk perception detected as a driver of future travel intention should also be analysed in future research. Other studies on sustainable tourism suggest the intervention of other determinants, beyond attitudes, that explain behaviour (Ajzen, 1991, 2015; Antimova et al., 2012; Kredenster et al., 2012). It is especially important to use the attitude behaviour-gap theory to further explore the association between tourists' risk perception and environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviours. This aspect will need to be corroborated with new field studies and specific analyses for the case of Spain in particular.
The results obtained allow us to make some recommendations for practitioners, the design of policies and tourism planning that can stimulate sustainability in the future behaviour of Spanish tourists. Although the COVID crisis has revealed the malfunctioning and existence of fundamental contradictions in the current production system, it does not seem reason enough to change the attitude of most Spanish tourists. Our analysis of the Spanish market provides empirical evidence that their main reason for attitudinal change, the risk of getting sick, will only be kept in mind on a temporary basis, as it is strictly associated with the period of time in which this risk is perceived, and it tends to dissolve in the longer term. Given that it seems difficult to articulate a generational change discourse from a demand perspective, we suggest the regulation of the tourism industry as an alternative. The establishment of tourism policies aimed at increasing sustainable tourism products, financial incentives and the identification of best business practices are some measures that can lead to transformative changes from the supply side. Considering that similar health crisis phenomena will be repeated in the future, as they are intimately linked to the climate crisis, it is important for destinations to learn the lessons of the COVID pandemics and use the information gathered on demand attitudes to better understand the behaviour of post-pandemic tourists, which will allow them to manage risk efficiently. Thus, the concept of resilience is useful for incorporating risk management in tourism, but also for generating more responsible actions towards future pandemic crises. Finally, the study detects tourists with an attitude to future travel that can be associated with a collective consciousness and an ethical relationship with the planet. The tourism industry must take into account the motivations of this segment, especially those that are not inherent to their personal worldview, and try to extend them to tourists as a whole through incentives or pricing policies.
The present study has a number of limitations which we do not believe to significantly affect the value of its contribution. In the first place, it must be taken into account that the study was conducted during an extraordinary period in which the uncertainty of the fight against the virus generates personal and collective doubts that may modify initial perceptions and, therefore, condition actual behaviour in the future. The exploratory nature of the study and the lack of similar international analyses does not allow us to contrast its results at a global level, though it offers a starting point for future research in other countries. There are also methodological limitations, since the field work was carried out between the first and second waves of the disease, at a time when the pandemic was remitting, possibly affecting the orientation of some responses, given the desire to recover normalcy and “normal” travel, and this may have influenced the life priority given to tourism.
Conclusions
The present study has made it possible to provide data from a sample of Spanish tourists, one of the main outbound tourist markets in the Mediterranean, making a contribution to knowledge of post-pandemic demand behaviour, particularly in the period of transitory recovery immediately following the first wave, a subject that has not yet been analysed. The analysis has made it possible to increase knowledge about the attitudes associated to the perception of risk that lead to change in the way tourists see the world and travel in the wake of personal experience of an episode of global crisis. The results support the differences in tourists' intention to change their travel patterns in the future, as well as their predisposition to consume sustainable tourism. The differences found between tourist groups are explained by their risk perception, which in turn is related to their previous environmental attitude. Thus, the tourists with a stronger environmental attitude (concerned) express a stronger intention of avoiding the risk of getting sick during the trip and prefer sustainable destinations to mass tourism beach destinations. In contrast, sceptical tourists, with low environmental concern, show a negative association with the perceived risk. Finally, pragmatic tourists recognise the risk during the pandemic context, but they do not express a clear intention to change the way they will travel once that risk disappears. In contrast, the personal experience of the pandemic has no significant effects on intention to change travel habits.
This result represents a step forward towards the social transformation of the collective consciousness, understood as a prior and essential step for structural change in the tourism system. The fact that the change in mentality is not related to personal proximity to the disease suggests that the transformation has a social character. Managers of tourist destinations and attractions must take into account the importance of adaptation to the risk of illness in the collective response, aspects that may influence decision-making in choosing destinations once normality is restored. On the other hand, the absence of a relationship between tourist behaviour change and the perceived importance of health security, tourist congestion and accommodation size in travel choices, or the priority that respondents continue to give to tourism in their life, suggest attitudes of continuity with previous models.
The study provides evidence for a better understanding of the future behaviour of Spanish tourists according to the transformative character of their travel attitudes. On the one hand, Spanish tourists perceive density as having higher health risk levels, which supports a short term future scenario during the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemics, characterized by decreasing visitors to sun and beach and urban tourism destinations, a fall in international tourism flows, and a preference for travel to domestic, low-density nature destinations located away from big cities. However, as personal experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic are not associated with a change in individual worldviews and preferences for traditional holidays are still valid, the medium- and long-term future scenarios do not provide signals of the social assumption of sustainable concerns or changing travel attitudes in response to a global environmental conscience. Thus, Spanish tourists are not expected to change their behaviour permanently in response to awareness of anthropocene risks, nor to react against the neoliberal logics of the tourism industry. That is, at least in the case of the Spanish market, the radical alternative character proposed by the transformative turn in tourism perspectives, or in consumer development models based on the socialization of tourism or degrowth, are not envisioned in the long-term future.
The results help to understand the crossroads at which tourists currently find themselves, between the life change driven by their personal experience of the pandemic and a real transformation of behaviour that contributes to promoting a reset in tourism. The conditions for social impact are present, but their translation into travel behaviour change manifests more as a temporary adaptation than a structural transformation. The experience of the COVID-19 crisis has not been sufficient to change the declared travel habits of Spanish tourists. Therefore, progress towards the definition of a new tourism system that implies the effective transformation of demand will require applying policies and promoting institutional innovation and education to create new paths that facilitate transformative experiences.
Figures
Overview of the literature
| Items used to identify attitudinal factors | Authors | Year |
|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 experienced disease, Personal economic impact of COVID-19, Personal psychological impact of COVID-19 (anxiety), Direct relationship with COVID-19-infected persons, Indirect relationship with COVID-19-infected persons | Newly developed | |
| It has changed my view of the world | Adapted from Hedlund de-Witt et al. | 2014 |
| I want to live differently | Adapted from Hedlund de-Witt et al. | 2014 |
| I want to travel differently | Adapted from Kock et al. | 2019 |
| Impact on travel behaviour* | ||
| Tourism is a priority in my life, Criteria of sustainable products in choice destination, I will stay in small establishments, I will travel to highly-frequented tourist destinations, I will stay in small establishments | Newly developed | |
| I will travel less in the future | Adapted from Ivanova et al. | 2021 |
| I will spend less money when I travel | Adapted from Chebli and Foued | 2020 |
| I will travel closer to home | Adapted from Ivanova et al. | 2021 |
| Importance of health security criteria | Adapted from Chebli and Foued | 2020 |
| I will use public transport | Adapted from Ivanova et al. | 2021 |
| Environmental attitude | ||
| The Earth is like a spaceship with very limited room and resources | Adapted from Dunlap et al. | 2000 |
| The balance of nature is very delicate and easily upset | Adapted from Dunlap et al. | 2000 |
| I am very concerned about environmental problems | Adapted from Dunlap et al. | 2000 |
| I worry about the environment when I make choices concerning my holiday travel | Adapted from Prillwitz and Barr | 2011 |
| Nature has value only because the human being is able to use and enjoy her | Adapted from Hedlund de-Witt et al. | 2014 |
| I am likely to change my holiday plans in response to global climate change | Adapted from Dunlap et al. | 2000 |
| Modifying the environment for human use can cause serious problems | Adapted from Prillwitz and Barr | 2011 |
| There is no limits to growth for nations like mine | Adapted from Prillwitz and Barr | 2011 |
| I like making an effort to contribute to a better environment | Adapted from Hedlund de-Witt et al. | 2014 |
| Humankind was created to rule over the rest of nature | Adapted from Prillwitz and Barr | 2011 |
| Technological advances will solve many environmental problems | Adapted from Prillwitz and Barr | 2011 |
| Problems like climate change are a threat to me and my family | Adapted from Prillwitz and Barr | 2011 |
Note(s): *See also more recently Bratic et al. (2021)
Attitudinal dimensions
| Item | Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 3 | Factor 4 | Factor 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 economic impacts affected me | −0.025 | 0.155 | 0.071 | 0.106 | 0.741 |
| COVID-19 generated anxiety to me | 0.035 | −0.082 | 0.073 | 0.06 | 0.761 |
| COVID-19 changed the way I see the world | 0.222 | −0.066 | 0.101 | 0.625 | 0.376 |
| I want to live in a different way than I have done until now | 0.112 | 0.115 | 0.009 | 0.842 | 0.008 |
| I want to travel for tourism in a different way than I used to | −0.012 | 0.157 | −0.02 | 0.834 | 0.023 |
| I consider the environment when making travel decisions | 0.223 | 0.836 | −0.03 | 0.13 | 0.107 |
| I take into account climate change when making travel plans | 0.154 | 0.871 | 0.008 | 0.056 | 0.006 |
| I am very concerned about environmental issues | 0.514 | 0.595 | −0.019 | 0.092 | −0.037 |
| The balance of nature is very delicate and easy to upset by human activities | 0.707 | 0.13 | −0.197 | 0.028 | −0.001 |
| The Earth is like a "spaceship" with only limited room and resources | 0.328 | 0.246 | −0.017 | 0.111 | −0.171 |
| Problems like climate change are a threat to me and my family | 0.676 | 0.279 | 0.004 | 0.089 | 0.049 |
| We will need to make sacrifices in our lifestyles to reduce environmental problems | 0.709 | 0.187 | −0.173 | 0.088 | 0.045 |
| Modifying the environment for human use cause serious problems | 0.737 | −0.031 | −0.131 | 0.022 | 0.035 |
| The main reason for the existence of plants and animals is to support people | −0.072 | 0.118 | 0.693 | 0.089 | 0.159 |
| There are no limits to growth for nations like mine | −0.174 | 0.121 | 0.721 | −0.001 | 0.144 |
| Humankind was created to rule over the rest of nature | −0.248 | −0.12 | 0.723 | −0.042 | 0.097 |
| Technological advances will solve many environmental problems | 0.013 | −0.164 | 0.613 | 0.002 | −0.182 |
Note(s): Extraction method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation method: Varimax. Entries in italics indicate a loading of more than 0.350 on the appropriate component
Sociodemographic characteristics of the sample
| Frequency | Average | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||
| Man | 167 | 33.7 |
| Woman | 329 | 66.3 |
| Age | ||
| <25 | 28 | 5.6 |
| 25–34 | 109 | 22.0 |
| 35–45 | 173 | 34.9 |
| 46–54 | 128 | 25.8 |
| >54 | 58 | 11.7 |
| Total | 496 | 100.0 |
| Education | ||
| Primary | 35 | 7.0 |
| Secondary | 265 | 53.5 |
| Bachelor's degree | 164 | 33.0 |
| Master's or PhD | 32 | 6.5 |
| Total | 496 | 100.0 |
| Political ideas | ||
| Conservative | 35 | 7.1 |
| Left | 188 | 37.9 |
| Centre | 89 | 17.9 |
| Ecologist/Green | 54 | 10.9 |
| Other | 366 | 26.2 |
| Total | 496 | 100.0 |
| Working | ||
| Yes | 392 | 79.0 |
| No | 104 | 21.0 |
| Total | 496 | 100.0 |
Final cluster centres: average environmental and personal experience with COVID-19
| C1. Sceptical | C2. Pragmatic | C3. Concerned | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I take into account climate change when making travel plans | 3.33 | 4.56 | 3.05 |
| I am very concerned about environmental issues | 4.2 | 4.45 | 4.52 |
| We will need to make sacrifices in our lifestyles to reduce environmental problems | 4.43 | 4.85 | 4.3 |
| Problems like climate change are a threat to me and my family | 4.56 | 4.01 | 3.56 |
| COVID-19 changed the way I see the world | 3.67 | 4.25 | 4.28 |
| COVID-19 economic impacts have affected me | 3.23 | 4.29 | 4.36 |
| I will take into account Health security criteria when choosing a tourist destination | 4.12 | 4.95 | 3.52 |
| I will take into account the existence of sustainable products and attractions when choosing a tourist destinations | 4.05 | 4.56 | 3.65 |
| COVID-19 generated anxiety to me | 3.35 | 4.26 | 3.24 |
| I want to travel for tourism in a different way than I used to | 2.29 | 4.39 | 3.44 |
| I want to live in a different way than I have done until now | 2.45 | 4.67 | 4.65 |
Results relating to differences of social and cultural variables on tourist groups
| (a) Sceptical tourists | (b) Pragmatic tourists | (c) Concerned tourists | Chi Square | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex | Non sig | ||||
| Men | 36.1 | 38.3 | 29.8 | 0.000 | |
| Women | 62.3 | 61.7 | 70.2 | 0.000 | |
| Age (Mean) | 40.1 | 42.7 | 41.6 | 6.736 | 0.000 |
| Education | Non sig | ||||
| Primary | 4.9 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.671 | |
| Secondary | 16.4 | 13.7 | 9.5 | 0.483 | |
| Bachelor's degree | 55.7 | 54.1 | 51.6 | 0.376 | |
| Master's or PhD | 23.0 | 31.1 | 37.7 | 0.845 | |
| Political ideas | 19,914 | 0.001 | |||
| Conservative | 13.1 | 5.5 | 6.7 | 0.003 | |
| Left | 29.5 | 44.3 | 35.3 | 0.001 | |
| Centre | 21.3 | 18.6 | 16.7 | 0.001 | |
| Ecologist/Green | 4.9 | 7.1 | 15.1 | 0.002 | |
| Other | 31.1 | 24.6 | 26.2 | 0.005 | |
| Frequency of travel to mass destinations | 18,798 | 0.004 | |||
| Never | 8.2 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 0.002 | |
| Sometimes | 11.5 | 18.0 | 19.0 | 0.004 | |
| Regularly | 19.7 | 23.5 | 36.1 | 0.002 | |
| Often | 42.6 | 29.0 | 32.9 | 0.001 | |
| Always | 18.0 | 14.8 | 11.9 | 0.004 |
Note(s): Italics values represent the statistically significant values
Cluster differences of future preferences and the intention to visit beach mass tourism destinations
| C1. Sceptical n = 61 (12.3%) | C2. Pragmatic n = 183 (36.9%) | C3. Concerned n = 252 (50.8%) | Mean n = 496 | Sig | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourism is a basic priority in my life | 3.62 | 3.64 | 3.71 | 3.68 | 0.777 |
| I want to travel less frequently than before | 2.11 | 1.93 | 2.93 | 2.21 | 0.000 |
| I will spend less money on travel for tourism | 2.34 | 2.20 | 2.55 | 2.40 | 0.004 |
| I will travel to nearby destinations | 2.67 | 2.98 | 3.54 | 3.22 | 0.000 |
| I will take into account health security criteria when choosing a tourist destination | 2.74 | 4.28 | 4.50 | 4.20 | 0.000 |
| I will take into account the existence of sustainable products and attractions when choosing a tourist destination | 2.93 | 3.83 | 4.27 | 3.94 | 0.000 |
| On my tourists trips I will stay in small establishments | 2.84 | 3.24 | 3.53 | 3.34 | 0.000 |
| I will use public transport | 3.13 | 3.16 | 3.11 | 3.13 | 0.836 |
| I will travel to destinations frequented by many tourists | 2.67 | 2.48 | 2.38 | 2.45 | 0.830 |
| I will travel to beach mass tourism destinations | 2.77 | 2.44 | 2.53 | 2.52 | 0.208 |
| I will recommend beach mass tourism destinations to my family and friends | 2.69 | 2.55 | 2.58 | 2.58 | 0.756 |
Note(s): Italics values represent the statistically significant values
Regression of attitudes on risk to travel in a pandemic context
| Independent variable | Beta | t-value | Prob |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model 1: Tourist density risk R2 = 0.084 | |||
| Attitudes | |||
| New environmentalism concern | −0.129 | −2.992 | 0.003 |
| Human excepcionality and techno-optimism | 0.254 | 5.911 | 0.001 |
| COVID-19 personal experience | 0.46 | 1.147 | 0.551 |
| Intercept | 1.042 | 6.3 | 0.001 |
| Model 2: Proximity to destinations risk R2 = 0.108 | |||
| Attitudes | |||
| New environmentalism concern | 0.124 | 2.906 | 0.004 |
| Human excepcionality and techno-optimism | −0.162 | −3.794 | 0.000 |
| COVID-19 personal experience | 0.104 | 2.198 | 0.164 |
| Intercept | 1.445 | 10.1 | 0.001 |
| Model 3: Health security risk R2 = 0.085 | |||
| Attitudes | |||
| New environmentalism concern | 0.232 | 5.371 | 0.000 |
| Human excepcionality and techno-optimism | 0.32 | 0.732 | 0.465 |
| COVID-19 personal experience | 0.79 | 1.824 | 0.694 |
| Intercept | 1.215 | 9.5 | 0.001 |
| Model 4: Lodgement size risk R2 = 0.057 | |||
| Attitudes | |||
| New environmentalism concern | 0.96 | 2.209 | 0.284 |
| Human excepcionality and techno-optimism | −0.138 | −3.163 | 0.002 |
| COVID-19 personal experience | 0.003 | 0.074 | 0.921 |
| Intercept | 1.345 | 7.8 | 0.001 |
| Model 5: Sustainable criteria risk R2 = 0.240 | |||
| Attitudes | |||
| New environmentalism concern | 0.191 | 4.848 | 0.000 |
| Human excepcionality and techno-optimism | −0.33 | −0.837 | 0.415 |
| COVID-19 personal experience | 0.89 | 2.258 | 0.244 |
| Intercept | 3.942 | 119.26 | 0.000 |
Note(s): Italics values represent the statistically significant values
References
Ajzen, I. (1991), “The theory of planned behavior”, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 50, pp. 179-211.
Ajzen, I. (2015), “The theory of planned behavior: reactions and reflections”, Psychology and Health, Vol. 26 No. 9, pp. 113-1127.
Allen, T., Murray, K., Zambrana, C., Morse, S., Rondinini, C., Di Marco, M., Breit, N., Olival, K. and Daszak, P. (2017), “Global hotspots and correlates of emerging zoonotic diseases”, Nature Communications, Vol. 8 No. 1, p. 1124.
Antimova, R., Nawjin, J. and Peters, P. (2012), “The awareness attitude gap in sustainable tourism: a theoretical perspective”, Tourism Review, Vol. 67 No. 3, pp. 7-16.
Ateljevic, I., Harris, C., Wilson, E. and Collins, F. (2005), “Getting “entangled”: reflexivity and the “critical turn” in tourism studies”, Tourism Recreation Research, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 9-21.
Benjamin, S., Dillette, A. and Alderman, D.H. (2020), “‘We can't return to normal’: committing to tourism equity in the post-pandemic age”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 476-483.
Bianchi, R. (2009), “The ‘critical turn’ in tourism studies: a radical critique”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 484-504.
Blomley, N. (2006), “Uncritical critical geography?”, Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 87-94.
Bramwell, B. and Lane, B. (2014), “The ‘critical turn’ and its implications for sustainable tourism research”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 1-8.
Bratic, M., Radivojevic, A., Stojilikovic, N., Simovic, O., Juvan, E., Lesjak, M. and Podovsovnik, E. (2021), “Should I stay or should I go? Tourists’ COVID-19 risk perception and vacation behavior shift”, Sustainability, Vol. 13, p. 3573, doi: 10.3390/su13063573.
Brouder, P. (2020), “Reset redux: possible evolutionary pathways towards the transformation of tourism in a COVID-19 world”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 484-490.
Brouder, P. and Saarinen, J. (2019), “Co-evolution and resilient regions: moving towards tourism sustainable development”, in Saarinen, J. and Gill, A.M. (Eds), Resilient Destinations and Tourism, Roudledge, pp. 67-76.
Brüne, M. and Wilson, D.R. (2020), “Evolutionary perspectives on human behavior during the coronavirus pandemic. Insights from game theory”, Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, No. 2020, pp. 181-186.
Burns, van der Mensbrugghe, D. and Timmer, H. (2006), Evaluating the Economic Consequences of Avian Influenza, World Bank, Washington.
Center for Systems Science and Engineering (2020), COVID-19 Dashboard, Johns Hopkins University, available at: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html.
Chebli, A. and Foued, B.S. (2020), “The impact of Covid-19 on tourist consumption behaviour: a perspective article”, Journal of Tourism Management Research, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 196-207.
Connolly, C., Keil, R. and Ali, S.H. (2020), “Extended urbanisation and spatialities of infectious disease: demographic change, infrastructure and governance”, Urban Studies, Vol. 58 No. 2, 101177.
Dolnicar, S., Yanamandram, V. and Cliff, K. (2011), “The contribution of vacations to quality of life”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 59-83.
Dunlap, R.E., van Liere, K.D., Mertig, A.G. and Emmet, R. (2000), “Measuring endorsement of the new environmental paradigm: a revised NEP scale”, Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 56, pp. 425-442.
Ebi, K.L., Ogden, N.H., Semenza, J.C. and Woodward, A. (2017), “Detecting and attributing health burdens to climate change”, Environmental Health Perspectives, No. 8, 125085004.
Enger, W. (2020), The Way Back. What the World Can Learn from China’s Travel Restart after COVID-19, McKinsey & Company, New York.
Farmaki, A. (2021), “Memory and forgetfulness in tourism crisis research”, Tourism Management, Vol. 83, 104210.
Galvani, A., Lew, A. and Sotelo, M. (2020), “COVID-19 is expanding global consciousness and the sustainability of travel and tourism”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 567-576.
Gössling, S., Scott, D. and Hall, M. (2020), “Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of COVID-19”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 1-20.
González, F. (2008), “El papel de los destinos turísticos en la transformación sociodemográfica del litoral mediterráneo español”, Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, Vol. 47, pp. 79-107.
Hall, M., Scott, D. and Gössling, S. (2020), “Pandemics, transformation and tourism: be careful what you wish for”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 577-598.
Harvey, D. (1990), The Condition of Postmodernity, Blackwell, London.
Hedlund-de Witt, Boer, J. and Boersema, J.J. (2014), “Exploring inner and outer worlds: a quantitative study of worldviews, environmental attitudes, and sustainable lifestyles”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 37, pp. 40-54.
Hepler, J. and Albarracín, D. (2014), “Liking more means doing more: dispositional attitudes predict patterns of general action”, Social Psychology, Vol. 45 No. 5, pp. 391-398.
Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2020), “Socialising tourism for social and ecological justice after COVID-19”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 610-623.
Hollinshead, K., Ateljevic, I. and Ali, N. (2009), “Worldmaking agency-worldmaking authority: the sovereign constitutive role of tourism”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 427-443.
Hosteltur (2020), Las tendencias que marcarán las escapadas de los españoles en 2021, Hosteltur, Barcelona, 13-12-2020, Retrieved December 2020, available at: https://www.hosteltur.com/141105_las-tendencias-que-marcaran-las-escapadas-de-los-espanoles-en-2021.html?code=home-page%7B2020-12-14%7D.
Hsiao, H.H.M. and Tseng, H.-P. (2011), “The formation of environmental consciousness in Taiwan: intellectuals, media and the public mind”, Asian Geographer, Vol. 18 Nos 1-2, pp. 99-109.
Huang, Y.-C. and Liu, C.-H. (2017), “Moderating and mediating roles of environmental concern and ecotourism experience for revisit intention”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 29 No. 7, pp. 1854-1872.
Hufnagel, L., Brockmann, G. and Geisel, T. (2004), “Forecast and control of epidemics in a globalized world”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 101 No. 42, pp. 15124-15129.
Ioannides, D. and Gymóthy, S. (2020), “The COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity for escaping the unsustainable global tourism path”, Tourism Geographies, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 624-632.
Ivanova, M., Ivanov, I.K. and Ivanov, S. (2021), “Travel behaviour after the pandemic: the case of Bulgaria”, Anatolia, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 1-11.
Jamal, T. (2019), Integrating Justice and Ethics in Tourism, Routledge, London.
Jonas, A., Mansfeld, Y., Paz, S. and Potasman, I. (2011), “Determinants of health risk perception among low-risk-taking tourists traveling to developing countries”, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 50 No. 1, pp. 87-99.
Kaiser, F.G. and Fuhrer, U. (2003), “Ecological behavior's dependency on different forms of knowledge”, Applied Psychology: An International Review, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 508-513.
Kallis, G. (2018), Degrowth (The Economy: Key Ideas), Agenda Publishing, New York.
Kock, F., Josiassen, A. and Assaf, A.G. (2019), “The xenophobic tourist”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 74, pp. 155-166.
Kavanagh, M.M., Thirumurthy, H., Katz, R., Ebi, K., Beyrer, C., Headley, J., Holmes, C.B., Collins, C. and Gostin, L. (2019/2020), “Ending pandemics: US foreign policy to mitigate today’s major killers, tomorrow’s outbreaks, and the health impacts of climate change”, Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 73 No. 1, pp. 49-68.
Kock, F., Norfelt, A., Josiassen, A., Assaf, A.G. and Tsionas, M.G. (2020), “Understanding the COVID-19 tourist psyche: the evolutionary tourism paradigm”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 85, 103053.
Kredenster, M.A., Fabrigar, L.R., Smith, S.M. and Fulton, K. (2012), “Following what people think we should do versus what people actually do: elaboration as a moderator of the impact of descriptive and injunctive norms”, Social Psychological and Personality Science, Vol. 3, pp. 341-347.
Kuo, H.-L., Chen, C.-C., Tseng, W.-C., Ju, L.-F. and Huang, B.-W. (2008), “Assessing the impact of SARS and avian flu on international tourism demand to Asia”, Tourism Management, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 917-928.
Labonte, R., Mohindra, K. and Schrecker, T. (2011), “The growing impact of globalization for health and public health practice”, Annual Review of Public Health, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 263-283.
Lu, A.C.C., Gursoy, D. and Del Chiappa, G. (2016), “The Influence of materialism on ecotourism attitudes and behaviors”, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 55 No. 2, pp. 176-189.
Luo, Y. and Deng, J. (2008), “The New Environmental Paradigm and nature based tourism motivation”, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 46, pp. 392-402.
Malhotra, N.K. (2008), Marketing Research. An Applied Orientation, Pearson, Upper Saddle River.
Mertzanis, C. and Papastathopoulos, A. (2021), “Epidemiological susceptibility risk and tourists flows around the world”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 86, 103095.
Miller, J.R. (2005), “Biodiversity conservation and the extinction of experience”, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 20 No. 8, pp. 430-434.
MMGY Travel Intelligence (2020), Travel Intentions Pulse Survey (TIPS): Impacts of COVID-19, U.S. Travel Association, Washington.
Morens, D.M., Folkers, G.K. and Fauci, A.S. (2009), “What is a pandemic?”, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 200 No. 7, pp. 1018-1021.
Navarrete, C.D. and Fesler, D.M.T. (2006), “Disease avoidance and ethnocentrism. The effects of disease vulnerability and disgust sensitivity on intergroup attitudes”, Evolution and Human Behavior, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 270-282.
Page, S., Song, H. and Wu, D.C. (2011), “Assessing the impacts of the global economics crisis and swine flu on inbound tourism demand in the United Kingdom”, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 51 No. 2, pp. 142-153.
Passafaro, P. (2020), “Attitudes and tourists' sustainable behavior: an overview of the literature and discussion of some theoretical and methodological issues”, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 59 No. 4, pp. 579-601.
Peters, K., Peters, J. and Peters, N. (2020), “Visit people tourism recovery after disaster”, KPPM Strategy, Sidney, available at: http://kppm.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/KPPM-Tourism-Recovery-Lit-Review-4-4-20.pdf (accessed 24 December 2020).
Pongsiri, M.J., Roman, J., Ezenwa, V.O., Goldberg, T.L., Koren, H.S., Newbold, S.C., Ostfeld, R.S., Pattanayak, S.K. and Salkeld, D.J. (2009), “Biodiversity loss affects global disease ecology”, BioScience, Vol. 59 No. 11, pp. 945-954.
Prillwitz, J. and Barr, S. (2011), “Moving towards sustainability? Mobility styles, attitudes and individual travel behaviour”, Journal of Transport Geography, Vol. 19, pp. 1590-1600.
Reinsinger, Y. and Mavondo, F. (2005), “Travel anxiety and intentions to travel internationally: implications of travel risk perception”, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 212-225.
Sheldon, P.J. (2020), “Designing tourism experiences for inner transformation”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 83, 102935.
Thogersen, J. and Ölander, F. (2003), “Spillover of environment-friendly consumer behavior”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 23, pp. 225-236.
Tribe, J. (2008), “Tourism: a critical business”, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 46, pp. 245-255.
UNWTO (2020), “International tourist arrivals could fall by 20-30% in 2020”, Retrieved December 24, 2020, available at: https://www.unwto.org/news/covid-19-international-tourist-numbers-could-fall-60-80-in-2020.
Wachyuni, S. and Kusumaningrum, D.A. (2020), “The effect of COVID-19 pandemic: how are the future tourist behavior?”, Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 67-76.
Wallace, R., Chaves, L.F., Bergmann, L.R., Ayres, C., Hogerwerf, L., Kock, R. and Wallace, R.G. (2018), Clear-cutting Disease Control: Capital-Led Deforestation, Public Health Austerity, and Vector-Borne Infection, Springer.
Wang, I.M. and Ackerman, J.M. (2019), “The infectiousness of crowd: crowding experiences are amplified by pathogen threats”, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 120-132.
Wang, J., Lastres, B.-L., Ritchie, B.W. and Mills, D. (2019), “Traveller’s self-protections against health risks: an application of the full protection motivation theory”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 78, 102743.
Zenker, S. and Kock, F. (2020), “The coronavirus pandemic- A critical discussion of a tourism research agenda”, Tourism Management, Vol. 81, 104464.
Zheng, D., Luo, Q. and Ritchie, B.W. (2021), “Afraid to travel after COVID-19? Self-protection, coping and resilience against pandemic travel fear”, Tourism Management, Vol. 83, 104261.
Further reading
Fletcher, R., Murray, I., Blanco, A. and Blàzquez, M. (2019), “Tourism and degrowth: an emerging agenda for research and praxis”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 27 No. 12, pp. 1745-1763.
Corresponding author
About the authors
Francesc González-Reverté has been a lecturer in tourism at The Open University of Catalonia (UOC) since 2003 and member of the NOUTUR research group. He is the author/co-author of several books on tourism and he has widely published sustainable issues in referred journals. His research experience spans a variety of tourism contexts, including sustainable tourism development, tourism impacts, event and festival tourism and tourism local development. His recent research interests include the social construction of tourism-phobia and overtourism, resident's attitude towards tourism, technology and tourists' perceived risk and mass tourism development. To date, he has published several books and more than 50 scientific articles in different languages.
Joan Miquel Gomis-López is an associate professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). His research focuses on sustainable tourism, commercialization and changes caused by IT in tourism distribution channels, and innovation. He has published in reputed journals in such areas, including Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Analysis, and Sustainability, among others.
Pablo Díaz-Luque is a lecturer of economics and business studies at the UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya). Luque is responsible for Tourism and ICT subjects in the Tourism Degree, holds Master of Sustainable Tourism and ICT and PhD in Economic and Business Sciences from the University of Malaga (“Turismo de España” Scholarship from the Ministry of Economy). Luque is a member since 2015 of the NOUTUR Research Group (UOC). Previously, Luque was a member of the Research Group of Sociology and Local Policies at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville). Research focus: e-tourism, consumption and collaborative economy in tourism, tourism development.