COVID-19 and Beyond: understanding travel risk perception as a process

ABSTRACT

The unprecedented occurrence of COVID-19 highlights the susceptibility of the tourism industry to external threats. From flight cancellations to the closure of hospitality establishments, COVID-19 has greatly transformed the industry. Whilst a crisis such as a pandemic is not new in tourism and hospitality, the unique characteristics of COVID-19 have altered the risk perceptions associated with destinations. To date, the tourism risk literature has predominantly focused on typology of risks, at the expense of examining the process of how risk perceptions are formed. Following a social constructivist epistemological position, this conceptual paper proposes an integrative model that unpacks the underlying psychological process of risk perceptions and demonstrates how the framing process influences the safety perceptions and moulds the travel image of a destination in the COVID-19 context. The paper proposes several suggestions for future studies to consider when testing the conceptual model.

KEYWORDS:

• Travel risk perception process
• destination image
• risk characteristics
• induced framing
• organic framing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Siti Aqilah Jahari

Siti Aqilah Jahari is a Marketing Lecturer at Monash University, Malaysia. She received her PhD from Monash University. Her research area lies in examining tourist behaviour, destination marketing and religious tourism. Dr. Jahari has published her work across various journals such as Tourism Management, as well as international conferences such as American Marketing Association (AMA), European Marketing Academy Conference (EMAC) and Society for Marketing Advances (SMA).

I-Chieh Michelle Yang

I-Chieh Michelle Yang is a Lecturer in Marketing at Monash University, Malaysia campus. Her research focus lies in tourist behaviour, consumer culture and political consumerism. Dr. Yang is currently involved in research projects on the politicization of Asian cultural practices and national identity work. Her work has been published in top-ranked journals such as Annals of Tourism Research and Current Issues in Tourism, as well as international conferences such as CCT and ANZAM Conference.

Juliana Angeline French

Juliana Angeline French is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Monash University, Malaysia campus. Her research focuses on issues at the nexus of consumer culture, marketplace resources and political consumerism particularly within the Asian region. Dr. French is currently involved in research projects on consumer vulnerability as a result of sociocultural aspects of consumption. Her work has been published in the Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Macromarketing, Australasian Marketing Journal amongst others.

Pervaiz Khalid Ahmed

Pervaiz Khalid Ahmed is the Head of School (School of Business at Monash University, Malaysia), Director of the Global Asia in the 21st Century (G21) and also Director of the Enterprise and Innovation Hub (eiHub). He obtained his PhD from University of Bradford. He has served as an editor and sat on the editorial boards of several international journals. His research interests cut across entrepreneurship, religion, ethics, and social responsibility.