Evolving effects of COVID-19 safety precaution expectations, risk avoidance, and socio-demographics factors on customer hesitation toward patronizing restaurants and hotels

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has had detrimental impacts on hospitality businesses. Drawing on protection motivation theory (PMT), this study investigated what determined customer hesitation to patronize restaurants and hotels and whether such hesitation underwent changes in the duration of the pandemic. The research model was tested using three sets of survey data collected in December 2020 (n = 826), February 2021 (n = 832) and April 2021 (n = 808). The study found that expected COVID-19 safety precautions, COVID-19 risk avoidance, and demographic factors predicted customers’ hesitation to visit restaurant/hotel. The analysis also showed significant shifts in how expectations about safety precautions, risk avoidance, and demographics affected customers’ visit hesitation over time. These findings provide critical insights to restaurant and hotel managers and destination marketers. To ensure that customers feel safe and confident in visiting hotels and restaurants, managers should implement the recommended safety measures and clearly communicate the implementation of these measures to customers.

新冠病毒大流行对酒店餐饮业产生了巨大的冲击。基于保护动机理论(PMT), 本研究调查了哪些因素导致顾客对光顾餐馆和酒店的犹豫不决, 以及这种犹豫是否在大流行期间发生了变化。该研究模型使用2020年12月(n = 826), 2021年2月(n = 832)和2021年4月(n = 808)收集的三组调查数据进行了测试。该研究发现, 顾客预期的COVID-19安全预防措施, COVID-19风险规避和人口统计因素预测了顾客对光顾餐厅和酒店的犹豫。分析还显示, 随着时间的推移, 以上几个因素对顾客消费犹豫的影响发生了重大变化。这项研究为酒店餐饮以及旅游业管理人员提供了重要的信息和见解。为确保顾客在光顾酒店和餐厅时感到安全放心, 管理人员应实施本研究建议的COVID-19安全预防措施, 并将这些措施的实施情况清楚地传达给顾客。

KEYWORDS:

• Evolving behavior
• customers’ safety precaution expectations
• risk avoidance
• visit hesitation
• dine-out hesitation

Disclosure statement

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