Exploring post-COVID-19 travel intentions of foreign tourists in Nepal: An empirical study using structural equation modeling (original) (raw)

COVID-19, Tourism, and Nepalese Leisure Travelers’ Willingness to Travel

Journal of Tourism & Adventure

The paper aims to explore and understand COVID-19 and its effect on tourism in Nepal. More specifically, the study intends to find out Nepalese leisure travelers’ past traveling behavior and their willingness to travel once the government of Nepal relaxes the COVID-19 related lockdown and measures. The study used exploratory research design and used a survey method to find out respondents’ opinions on aspects of COVID-19 and tourism. The use of convenience sampling for collecting responses yielded 316 responses through email and social media platforms that lasted for three weeks in June - July 2020. The research revealed that most of the respondents are less affected by COVID-19 and are willing to take a holiday/vacation once there is relaxation of the COVID-19 measures. The majority of the respondents believed tourism as a significant part of the Nepalese economy, and expected tourism in Nepal would recover from the COVID situation.

Tourists’ Perception of Travel Risk and Management in Destination amid Covid-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence from Nepal

Journal of Tourism and Services

Travel risk and management views of tourists have a key role in their choice of locations while the COVID-19 epidemic is still causing travel-related concerns. Despite many studies available in the western world, the effect of COVID-19 has been less explored in Nepal. Thus, this research aims to investigate travel risk and management perception in post-COVID tourism activities in Nepal. Based on pathogen stress theory and explanatory research design, this study seeks a causal relationship between Travel Risk and Management in Nepal. Following the purposive sampling technique, data collection is done using KOBO Toolbox through a structured questionnaire. Findings revealed that Risk Management, Transportation Patterns, Distribution Channel, Avoidance of Overpopulated destinations, Hygiene and Safety are significant to Travel risk and management perception whereas Risk Management, Travel risk and management perception, Service Delivery, Distribution Channel, Hygiene and Safety are sign...

Influencing Travelers’ Behavior in Thailand Comparing Situations of during and Post COVID-19

Sustainability

Tourism is the primary source of income for many countries, particularly developing ones. However, due to the impact of the 2019 Coronavirus epidemic, the tourism sector has been significantly affected. This study aims to identify factors that influence motivation and travel frequency. Two scenarios were compared: during COVID-19 and post-COVID-19. The questionnaire was developed based on the Health Belief model. The data collection process involved distributing a comprehensive questionnaire throughout Thailand, with the aim of achieving a fair and balanced representation of respondents from six distinct regions: northern, central, eastern, western, north-eastern, and southern. The study included a total of 2100 participants. Twenty hypotheses were formulated to analyze the relationship between the latent constructs. Factor analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were utilized to analyze the data from the questionnaires. The results from SEM found that the model was consistent wit...

Aryal COVID-19 Effect on Tourism Measuring Guest Behavior

Economic Journal of Development Issues, 2024

The global COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the Nepalese hotel industry due to government-imposed lockdowns and travel restrictions. This led to decreased earnings, higher unemployment, and a noticeable shift in guest behavior. In this context, the study analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on guest behavior towards the hotel industry in the Kathmandu Valley. This study utilizes an explanatory research design and gathers data from 260 participants through structured questionnaires, administered with the assistance of the KOBO Toolbox within the Kathmandu Valley. Inferential analysis was conducted using an ordered logistic model. The findings indicate that the pandemic has indeed had an impact on guest behavior within the hotel industry. Additionally, factors such as gender, education level, profession, reference group, security, attitude, and beliefs play a significant role in shaping guest behavior toward the hotel industry. We also find that most individuals visit hotels for personal reasons, and guests generally have a moderate level of awareness regarding COVID-19. In conclusion, hotels should enhance their services and maintain a hygienic environment to address these issues. In this regard, this study will benefit researchers, the hotel industry, the travel and tourism sector, policymakers, marketing agencies, and more

Tourism and COVID-19: The Show Must Go on

Sustainability

Tourism and hospitality actors face an unprecedented challenge in reigniting these industries through digital communication. All past knowledge regarding tourist behavior and preferences has been rendered irrelevant since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting enforced changes. Several reports have pointed to the existence of a travel sentiment that may be actionable by communication. This work attempts to reveal some of the elements that may compose this travel sentiment. To pursue this aim, an online pilot survey was conducted among those who were regular travelers before the COVID-19 outbreak. The data was used to validate the conceptual model through a partial least squares structural equation model estimation. The findings revealed that travel constraints are the most influential dimension, along with social media and technology usage, in affecting tourist behavior. Thus, in their communication strategy, tourism and hospitality players should reinforce the heal...

The impact of COVID-19 outbreak towards the post-pandemic leisure travel intention

Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts, 2021

There are studies related to COVID-19 pandemic across various sectors, including social, psychology, and specific industries, e.g., tourism. Several countries have imposed travel restrictions to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks and it may lead to travel behaviour changes for their residents. This research contributes to the existing knowledge by providing a new point of view, by extending the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) along with additional determinants of travellers' post-pandemic behavioural intentions, namely cognitive and affective risk perception and non-pharmaceutical interventions. This study focused on Indonesian residents who intended to travel abroad for vacation in 2020, but their plan was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was collected using a convenience sampling technique and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The PLS-SEM enables us to predict the key factors that affect post-pandemic travel intentions. The res...

Impact of Perceived Susceptibility of COVID on Travel Intentions of Outbound Tourists: Applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, 2023

The study examined the impact of perceived susceptibility of COVID-19 on travel intentions of Pakistani outbound tourists by applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). For the purpose of investigation, the data from 170 respondents were analysed to study the mediating effect of subjective norms, attitude towards behaviour and perceived behavioural control between perceived susceptibility of COVID and the travel intention of tourists for international vacation trip during the pandemic. It was found that the mediating effects of subjective norms and attitude towards behaviour were significant while the role of perceived behavioural control was insignificant. The analysis further reveals that the perceived susceptibility of COVID negatively influences the subjective norms and attitude while positively influences the behavioural control. On the other hand, all the proposed mediating factors in the model positively influence the travel intensions with varying strengths. Moreover, among the three endogenous variables influencing the intentions, subjective-norms came out to be the strongest predictor of travel intentions during pandemic. This outcome was significantly different from the commonly found results in existing literature hence highlighting the novelty of this study. Finally, study-implications for variety of stakeholders in hospitality industry were underscored, limitations were acknowledged and recommendations for future research endeavours were also discussed.

Tourists' motivation towards destination visit intention post-pandemic: scale development and validation

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2022

India is a huge attraction for tourists all over the world visiting different destinations with different motives. The Indian tourism sector was performing incredibly till the recent pandemic changed the overall tourism environment. The motivation for travelling has changed substantially and this change in behaviour and motives calls for insightful research. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the travel behaviour and motivation of tourists in post-pandemic situations. Primary data was collected from 345 tourists who had availed of the services of travel agencies pre-COVID or had made an enquiry. The six factors relating to destination choices in the new normal were discovered as health and hygiene, safety and security, accessibility and connectivity, information about destination, travel risk perception, and value for money. The findings will assist various tourism stakeholders in India to develop their policies and attract more domestic and foreign tourists.

Analysis of Preventive Behaviors of Rural Tourism Hosts in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic: Application of Health Belief Model

Frontiers in Public Health, 2021

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is one of the most severe public health crises in recent history. Therefore, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and its negative effects on the health of rural tourist hosts and the rural community, it is necessary to pay attention to the conservation and health behaviors of rural tourist hosts. This study was conducted with the purpose of analyzing preventive behaviors of rural tourism hosts in the face of COVID-19 pandemic with the application of the health belief model (HBM) that is one of the most widely used models to study behavior to prevent and control diseases. In this study, all 80 tourism hosts of tourism target villages in Kermanshah province (the west of Iran), were studied as study population. A questionnaire was used to collect data which its validity and reliability were confirmed. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using Smart PLS software was used to analyze the data. The results of SEM indicated that perceived severity, per...

The Effect of Tourism Destination Image on Tourist Visit Intention During COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Environment Management

The purpose of this study is to analyze how the tourism destination image affects tourist visit intention during the Covid-19 pandemic on Tegal Mas Island, Lampung, Indonesia. By using quantitative research design, there are four hypotheses developed and tested using structural equation modeling, based on PLS-SEM application, and also using 400 respondents’ samples with purposive sampling technique. The empirical findings reveal that the cognitive image has a positive significant effect on the affective image. The cognitive image and affective image are important antecedents of the overall destination image. Affective image is a mediator in the effect of cognitive image and overall destination image. and the overall image has a positive significant effect on tourist visit intentions. Furthermore, the affective image has a greater influence on the overall image than the cognitive image. The result implies for the management to highlight the destination image improvements that will en...