Elsevier

Tourism Management

Volume 84, June 2021, 104290
Tourism Management

Light at the end of the tunnel: Visitors' virtual reality (versus in-person) attraction site tour-related behavioral intentions during and post-COVID-19

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104290Get rights and content

Abstract

Consumer behavior is changing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus compelling attraction sites to find new ways of offering safe tours to visitors. Based on protection motivation theory, we develop and test a model that examines key drivers of visitors' COVID-19-induced social distancing behavior and its effect on their intent to use virtual reality-based (vs. in-person) attraction site tours during and post-COVID-19. Our analyses demonstrate that visitor-perceived threat severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy raise social distancing behavior. In turn, social distancing increases (decreases) visitors' intent to use virtual reality (in-person) tours during the pandemic. We find social distancing to boost visitors' demand for advanced virtual tours and to raise their advocacy intentions. Our results also reveal that social distancing has no effect on potential visitors' intent to use virtual reality vs. in-person tours post-the pandemic. We conclude by discussing vital implications that stem from our analyses.

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic
Coronavirus
Social distancing
Protection motivation theory
Tours
Attraction sites
Virtual reality
Consumer intentions

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Omar S. Itani earned his Ph.D. from the University Texas Arlington. Dr. Itani is an Assistant Professor of at the Lebanese American University. Dr. Itani's research studies the cross-section of technology and consumer behavior. His research interests also include relationship and strategic marketing, and sales management. His research has appeared in multiple journals including the Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Ethics, among others.

Linda D. Hollebeek, Ph.D. is Senior Associate Professor at Montpellier Business School and Full Professor at Tallinn University of Technology (Adj.). Her research centers on customer/consumer engagement and interactive consumer/brand relationships and value. Her work to date has appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, and European Journal of Marketing, among others. She is Associate Editor of the European Journal of Marketing and is currently guest editing Special Issues/Sections on Customer Engagement for the Journal of Service Research and the International Journal of Research in Marketing. She is also co-editor of The Handbook of Research on Customer Engagement (2019, Edward Elgar).

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