Perceived COVID-19 impacts and travel avoidance: application of protection motivation theory

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic and the travellers’ behaviour towards travel risk is an emerging issue. Nonetheless, the travellers’ perceived COVID-19 impacts, travel risk perception, health and safety perception and travel avoidance concerning protection motivation theory is unnoticed. Following the protection motivation theory, the current study investigates the direct and indirect relationships between perceived COVID-19 impacts and travel avoidance. Moreover, the travellers’ cognitive perceptions of risk may vary with their demographic characteristics; therefore, the present study aims to test the differences in group-specific parameter estimates using a multi-group analysis. Design/methodology/approach The authors approached travellers from Tianjin, China using different communication services, including WeChat and email, through a snowball sampling technique. The study used 553 valid questionnaires for analysis. Findings The results of 553 questionnaires in structural equation modelling (SEM) with AMOS 21 indicated that travellers’ perceived Covid-19 impacts positively correlate with travel avoidance. The study model based on protection motivation theory specifies that travel risk perception and health and safety perception as a cognitive mediating process partially mediated the relationship between perceived COVID-19 impacts and travel avoidance. The findings specified that during COVID-19, travellers assessed the severity of travel risks and adopted preventive measures which influenced their travel behaviour and led to travel avoidance. The multi-group analysis results indicated no difference in perception for gender and education; however, concerning age, the significant nested p -value specifies a difference in perception. Practical implications The study offers implications for policymakers and the tourism industry to understand the travellers’ perceptions of travel during the pandemic and ensure health and safety measures to encourage travelling and reviving the tourism industry. Originality/value The application of protection motivation theory to analyse the travellers’ perceived COVID-19 impacts and travel avoidance in the presence of travel risk perception and health and safety perceptions as a cognitive mediating process is novel.