COVID-19, social distancing, and risk-averse actions of hospitality and tourism consumers: A case of South Korea

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed individuals' daily life due to increased risk aversion, which has affected their consumption patterns and preferences. To understand the effect of the pandemic on consumer behavior through risk aversion, this study investigated the relationships among the pandemic, social distancing, online information search, and firm performance in the hospitality and tourism industries. For data analysis, we developed two joint models and estimated the models using the fixed-effects method. The results of the first model showed that social distancing triggered by COVID-19 news stories affected firm value. The second regional-level analysis revealed that the number of confirmed cases and COVID-19 news stories influenced individuals’ social distancing and online information search for tourist attractions and the changed social distancing and online search, in turn, affected the volume of online hotel reviews.