Sustainable or a Butterfly Effect in Global Tourism? Nexus of Pandemic Fatigue, COVID-19-Branded Destination Safety, Travel Stimulus Incentives, and Post-Pandemic Revenge Travel

Umer Zaman, Syed Hassan Raza, Saba Abbasi, Murat Aktan and Pablo Farías
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Umer Zaman: Endicott College of International Studies (ECIS), Woosong University, Daejeon 34606, Korea
Syed Hassan Raza: Department of Communication Studies, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 66000, Pakistan
Saba Abbasi: Department of Management Sciences, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Murat Aktan: Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Mugla 88000, Turkey
Pablo Farías: Departamento de Administración, Facultad de Economía y Negocios, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8330015, Chile

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-21

Abstract: Revenge travel has globally emerged as a dominant touristic behavior, signaling a rapid return of global tourism, but with a greater temptation for spending more and staying longer. Despite the expanding focus on global sustainable tourism, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the potential factors that build momentum for revenge travel. The aim of the present study was to develop and test a conceptualized model of revenge travel under the influence of pandemic fatigue, COVID-19-branded destination safety, and travel stimulus incentives. Drawing on the study data of international expats (N = 422) and using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM), the findings provide new evidence that revenge travel is significantly and positively influenced by pandemic fatigue. Interestingly, the empirical findings also support two positive moderations, highlighting that COVID-19-branded destination safety (CBDS) and travel stimulus incentives (TI) can significantly increase the impact of pandemic fatigue (PF) on revenge travel (RT). Based on prominent theories (i.e., theory of planned behavior, protection motivation theory, and incentive theory of motivation) and newly developed scales (i.e., RT, CBDS, and TI), the study highlights the dynamics of revenge travel as it sets the stage for global tourism to rebound stronger than ever. The implications include new challenges and ways forward through revenge travel as a stepping stone for global sustainable tourism.

Keywords: revenge travel; global sustainable tourism; pandemic fatigue; COVID-19-branded destination safety; travel stimulus incentives; theory of planned behavior; protection motivation theory; incentive theory of motivation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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