Is there stability underneath health risk resilience in Hong Kong inbound tourism?

ABSTRACT

The impacts of health crises on tourism demand vary according to the crises’ magnitude, causes, and recoverability. In some cases, the effects of these unexpected incidents have been severe. This study investigates the underlying stability of Hong Kong’s inbound tourism during three phases of health events. Data on 14 market sources for Hong Kong tourism are compared and the results discussed. Specific examinations suggest that travel from India, the U.S., the U.K., Indonesia, and the Philippines are, somewhat, less influenced by health crises in Hong Kong. Men, unmarried travelers, non-working vacationers, and repeat visitors display resilient tendencies. Expenditure tends to decrease during crises, although lengths of stay tend to increase. The inclusion of three types and phases of health crisis events and their effects on inbound travel markets suggest that the impacts of health crisis events differ according to the profile of health crisis. Implications and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• health risk
• Hong Kong
• resilience
• stability
• tourism demand
• uncertainty avoidance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Felix Elvis Otoo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2803-3835